Small-business owners and activists who rely on TikTok say the US House measure forcing a sale or ban would damage their livelihoods and harm their communities

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post :

Washington Post 2024-03-15 Taylor Lorenz

Context & Ripple Effects

The House’s bipartisan approval of a divest-or-ban bill turned a long-running concern for TikTok-dependent workers into an active legislative risk. Earlier coverage had already shown entertainment professionals preparing contingencies for a possible loss of the platform.

The stakes extend beyond individual creators: a TikTok-funded study cited in related coverage estimated sizable small-business revenue and employment effects, while experts later argued that the bill’s 180-day sale timetable would be difficult to execute.

First-order effects

Small businesses and activists whose customer reach, fundraising, or community organizing depends on TikTok face immediate uncertainty over a channel central to their work.
The bill puts TikTok and its commercial ecosystem under pressure to plan for either a U.S. ownership change or a potential service disruption.

Second-order effects

Creators, merchants, and advocacy groups are likely to accelerate diversification toward other social and commerce platforms, echoing the contingency planning by entertainment professionals reported earlier.
Alternative platforms and brand partners could gain demand for audience reach and creator campaigns, while businesses bear the cost of rebuilding audiences and workflows elsewhere.

Third-order effects

If divest-or-ban policy becomes a durable constraint, platform dependence becomes a more material operating risk for small firms and civil-society groups, not only for large media businesses.
The episode points toward a more fragmented social-platform market in which national-security policy can reshape creator-economy distribution; the eventual legal and legislative outcome remains decisive.

The trend: TikTok’s policy fight is part of a broader shift in which geopolitical scrutiny of platforms increasingly affects the livelihoods built on their distribution and commerce systems.

Discussion

@growing_daniel Daniel on x
They're not going to shut down an app that half of America consumes ads on, you're literally protesting who will be the faceless parent corporation [image]
@rakeshlobster Rakesh Agrawal on x
Good example of someone who bought TikTok's positioning versus what would actually happen. TikTok isn't going to disappear.
@kylascan Kyla Scanlon on x
The TikTok story is interesting from an economic, geopolitical, and social lens but with the app stagnating (growth has flatlined! 9% of users aged 18-24 left last year!) the big question isn't will TikTok sell... it's who will replace it
@jeffjarvis @jeffjarvis on x
And their freedom of expression.... TikTok creators say House ban threatens lives and livelihoods https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@robleathern Rob Leathern on x
Good take from @JuliaAngwin -> “72% of Americans want “more government regulation” of what companies can do with their data (Oct'23) .. only 31% of Americans favor a nationwide ban on TikTok (Feb'24)” Like Julia, I have greater concerns about all the detailed data held by a...
@bradsherman Congressman Brad Sherman on x
The refusal of #TikTok to sell its U.S. operations threatens lives and livelihoods. Under the bill, TikTok can sell to any company in the U.S. or any non-hostile country, and operations only get better. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@karissabe Karissa on threads
In all the years of China/TikTok rhetoric, no one — to my knowledge — has ever proved that the Chinese govt has manipulated TikTok or obtained user data from it. So many of the dire warnings are based on speculation about something that could *theoretically* happen or straight-u…
@yasharali @yasharali on threads
BREAKING Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin tells Andrew Ross Sorkin that he's interested in buying TikTok and is putting a group of investors together. He wouldn't tell Andrew which investors are in his group. Worth noting that former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has also …
@harrisonstarr_ Harrison Starr on threads
Bad: China using TikTok to vacuum up user data and spread misinformation and propaganda. Considered A-OK: US billionaires buying up all the social media companies so they can vacuum up user data and spread misinformation and propaganda.
@texaspaulschroder Paul Schroder on threads
And there it is. You knew this whole TikTok crap had to be a grift and move for more right wing trash to take over social media.
@datadrivenmd Jorge Caballero on threads
US House of Representatives: we wish TikTok wasn't owned by a foreign company with ties to authoritarian regimes [finger on a monkey's paw curls] https://www.cnn.com/...
@jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on threads
So basically instead of China controlling TikTok, Russia would. Such good work, House.
@sherrilynifill Sherrilyn Ifill on threads
Before Mnuchin is allowed to just re-enter the scene seeking to buy TikTok perhaps we should get some answers on the $1billion he raised from Arab states for his private equity fund while Jared was raising $2 billion immediately after Trump left office. …
@ngrossman81 Nicholas Grossman on threads
Tired: TikTok is a massive data harvesting and propaganda delivery system, and America can't tolerate the Chinese government having that much power in the US. Wired: TikTok is a massive data harvesting and propaganda delivery system, and right-wing rich guys want it for their ow…
@mcfadden@mastodon.social Brian McFadden on mastodon
It's nuts that TikTok can be banned while Fox News rots/has rotted Boomer brains by parasitically profiting off cable carriage fees.
@chungchingkwong Chung Ching Kwong on x
Spoke to @AJInsideStory on US TikTok ban. TikTok is making out like it's casualty of US-China competition when it's been spying on journalists, misleading parliaments, restricting Uyghur content and giving Chinese access to our data. Full interview here https://www.youtube.com/..…
@nathanlawkc @nathanlawkc on x
Good move. PRC-related company ByteDance has overwhelming control over TikTok, and the concern is beyond users' private data. TikTok can be integrated into China's information warfare easily so that the PRC can indirectly control what people see. https://www.bbc.com/...
@jchengwsj Jonathan Cheng on x
Wang Wenbin: “Though the US has never found...evidence of TikTok posing a threat to the US's national security, it has never stopped going after TikTok...Resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition...will eventually backfire.” https://www.fmprc.gov…
@jess_miers Jess Miers on x
This is precisely my issue with the “it's not a ban” take. Most of the age appropriate design code bills don't expressly ban users under 18, but in practice, they will. Most of the bills aren't even facial recognition bills, but in practice, they are.
@chinadaily @chinadaily on x
#FMsays The passage of the bill by the US House of Representatives forcing #ByteDance to divest from #TikTok puts the US on the opposite side of the principle of fair competition and international trade rules, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. [video]
@annmarie Annmarie Hordern on x
China's foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin: “When someone sees a good thing another person has and tries to take it for themselves, this is entirely the logic of a bandit.” https://www.france24.com/...
@yaqiu @yaqiu on x
Why is TikTok willing to give an interview to the Global Times, the famed CCP mouthpiece? You have to wonder whether TikTok's PR team is just that stupid or it has no choice but to respond to the proposed bill with a bunch of totally counterproductive measures.
@selinawangtv Selina Wang on x
Even if TikTok bill gets signed into law, will face legal pushback & China would likely block a sale So still long road ahead and unlikely it would actually get banned or sold Some TikTokers tell me this could impact their decision to support Biden in 2024 @ABC [video]
@jwetzel Josh Wetzel on x
US should just trade US business access to Chinese citizens (e.g. Google Search, Meta, etc.) for China access to US citizens (e.g. Tik Tok). I don't understand why China bans US stuff all the time but the idea of banning Tik Tok nobody talks about that. https://www.ft.com/...
@anupamchander Anupam Chander on x
Lots of folks, including the sponsors of the TikTok bill saying this is not a ban. But the bill itself includes an effective ban if TikTok doesn't sell itself. It's a divest-or-ban bill—and Congressmembers can't predict which of the outcomes will occur. 1/
@drhueyli Huey Li on x
TikTok may be a national security threat, but Trump riding on the TikTok issue to play hero is a bigger and more imminent national security threat. That's all I'm saying.
@anupamchander Anupam Chander on x
The Chinese government instituted an export control over technologies including algorithms, which many assume includes the power to ban ByteDance from selling the app. Early indications suggest that it might block any sale. 2/
@mfa_china @mfa_china on x
The #TikTok bill passed by the US House of Representatives puts the US on the wrong side of the principles of fair competition and international trade rules. [image]
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
It would be much cheaper for $META to try to kill TikTok via lobbying than to pay for TikTok + antitrust legal costs.
@alex @alex on x
no matter your stance on the tiktok issue, this take from the chinese gov is hysterically funny [image]
r/politics r on reddit
Former Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is putting together an investor group to buy TikTok
r/stupidpol r on reddit
The TikTok ban is a blatant Zionist power grab: “Former Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is putting together an investor group to buy TikTok”
r/Economics r on reddit
Former Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is putting together an investor group to buy TikTok
r/technology r on reddit
Former Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is putting together an investor group to buy TikTok

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