TikTok Creators, Marketers Prep For The Worst

The impending disappearance of TikTok, one of the most popular social media apps in the United States, has sent marketers, agencies and creators racing to embrace alternatives — even if they’re not entirely convinced that TikTok will in fact exit the United States this month.

The NYTimes reports marketers are shifting dollars to Instagram and amending their contracts with social media stars so they aren’t stuck paying for sponsored TikTok posts in the app’s absence. Creators are pleading with fans to follow them elsewhere while collecting their email addresses to connect on other platforms. And talent agents are telling TikTok stars to hit pause on buying a house or car for now.

Joe Mele

“I’m just hitting 30 million followers, and 10 days from now I might lose it all,” said Joe Mele, a 26-year-old TikTok star from Long Island who started posting jokes when he was a college freshman. “It’s a little scary.”

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is trying to overturn a law, signed by President Biden in April, that calls for ByteDance to sell the app to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in the United States on Jan. 19. TikTok has claimed a sale is impossible and challenged the law as unconstitutional.

TikTok’s disappearance would upend the social media and marketing landscape, routing billions in advertising dollars to rival platforms like Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube and scattering its 170 million monthly U.S. users. TikTok, known for its video feed that quickly adjusts to users’ interests, has become a cultural juggernaut since 2020, giving rise to best-selling books, viral recipes, Billboard 100 hits and even a “Saturday Night Live” cast member.

“This will either be the biggest headline-making nonevent in marketing history or the most shock to the system in the last decade,” said Craig Brommers, chief marketing officer of the retailer American Eagle Outfitters.