Tulsa influencers fear TikTok ban will affect their livelihoods

When is the TikTok ban supposed to take place?

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Friday morning to uphold a previous law President Biden put into place banning TikTok if it wasn't sold by its Chinese parent company. If it isn't purchased, the ban would go into effect on Jan. 19, 2025. 

Why is it being banned?

It's believed by United States government officials that TikTok could be a risk to national security. Officials worry the Chinese government could put pressure on ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, to release personal information of U.S. users. Right now, there is no evidence to support this claim. 

What are people saying about it?

Millions of TikTok users are upset about the app possibly being banned in the United States. Local influencers in Tulsa say this could affect their income.

"It's very nerve-wracking, yeah. I just paid my car, my electric bill, my gas bill off of monetization off of TikTok so it's a big part of my income," said user Tarra Quinn.

It is uncertain right now whether or not the app will just disappear from their phones, but Quinn said there is a possibility of users losing the content they've created. 

How do people make money on TikTok?

Quinn said to monetize from TikTok, users must have 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the last 30 days to qualify for the app's creator fund. Any videos they create must be at least one minute in length for them to be qualified to receive income.

"There's so much time and effort that goes into creating content. Just alone doing a food review like driving to the place, paying for the food, you're spending the time editing and then uploading it to a platform, you're like five hours in sometimes, so it is nice to get a little compensation back for that," Quinn said.

Users can also get paid for certain amounts of views, likes and shares but they have to come from the "for you page." 

How can TikTok avoid a ban?

To avoid being banned in the U.S., TikTok must be sold from its China-based parent company, Bytedance. The app could also avoid going dark if the Supreme Court intervenes, but after the unanimous vote to uphold the law banning the app, its intervention doesn't seem likely. Another way to keep the app accessible in the U.S. would be if President-elect Donald Trump declines to enforce the ban or refuses to carry out the law altogether.