The illustration in the photo shows the Tiktok logo displayed on your mobile phone screen.
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For the second time this year, Tiktok looks at his fate in the US and the deadline that can determine the fate of many creators and brands who have built their business on Chinese-owned social apps.
The urgency that some creators posted a goodbye video that spoke out in January has shifted to a more cautious and optimistic outlook, with creators and companies saying that Tiktok thinks they are heading their bets.
“I’m optimistic and I want them to keep it up, but as a creator, I have to prepare in either way,” said creator Gianna Christine, who has 2.7 million Tiktok followers.
Tiktok could effectively be banned in the US because of the national security law, originally signed by former President Joe Biden, which requires Chinese parent Beetedance to sell the American business of the app. While Baitedan was originally facing a deadline for selling the January 19th Tiktok, Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General not to enforce the law, allowing Chinese companies to sell a portion of the United States on the 75th to sell the US portion of their business.
Gianna Christine creates lifestyle videos on Tiktok about living in New York.
Gianna Christine
Like everyone else who spoke to CNBC, Christine said she has not received any direct updates from Tiktok about its future. Christine said she remains positive about the possibility that Tiktok will remain in the US, but its presence on platforms like Snapchat and YouTube has also expanded as a precaution.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Christine said.
Throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump made many positive comments about Tiktok and used the app as a campaign tool. Trump said Sunday that he would be “very certain” to reach Tiktok’s deal before the April deadline, according to Agence France-Presse. Last week, Trump said that if the deal is not reached, the deadline could be extended and that it could reduce China’s tariffs to promote the transaction.
“We are pleased to announce that Olivia Plotnick, founder of WAI Social Marketing and Consultant Agency. “Trump really wants to show how great he is and launch a deal.”
Tiktok and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Whatever is in store for Tiktok, the company is acting like a business as usual.
Current and former Tiktok workers said they have not received communication from management about their future in the US brand, and creators have not received updates from the company either.
Lack of communication and uncertainty about the future of the app has not stopped Tiktok from moving forward with new partnerships.
For example, marketing company Meltwater announced it had participated in Tiktok’s Marketing Partners program in March. Meltwater’s high-tech chief Aditya Jamie said his Tiktok contacts appeared “in the dark” about the future of the app, but they advanced a partnership that required deep integration between the two companies.
“They are actually going to do more and more things we can actually build together and then be exposed to our customers, so I feel it’s the business as usual,” Jami said.
Tiktok creator Alyssa McKay has over 10 million followers, but she is actively working to diversify her followers on more platforms.
“If you haven’t posted it on Snapchat, Instagram reels, or YouTube shorts yet, it’s where you need it,” McKay said, adding that her efforts ahead of the potential ban have already led her to earn more revenue from other platforms than she does in Tiktok.
Alyssa McKay is a content creator with over 10 million followers on Tiktok.
Alyssa McKay
According to data provided by social media and influencer marketing companies provided to CNBC, the initial ticoku ban period did not significantly alter social media posts from creators and brands.
Social media users increased their threads and YouTube posts by 10% and 6%, respectively, during the week of the Tiktok ban in January, compared to later weeks. Still, the general posting habits for brands and creators in the week following the January deadline were roughly the same as the previous week, a later spokesman said.
Throughout March, creators and brands have steadily reduced the number of Tiktok posts they plan to publish in the weeks leading up to April deadline, while increasing the number of scheduled Instagram posts, data from that point to them. Data from March suggests creators and brands will “redistribute content to Instagram as a safer or more stable alternative,” a later spokesman said.
For a moment, the Chinese social media app renotes rose to the top of Apple’s App Store in the week leading up to the January deadline. Known in China as Xiaohongsu, the app has a similar short video feature to Tiktok, but has a user base consisting of women from wealthier Chinese cities who have accepted a sudden influx of American users, said Plotnick of Wai Social.
“They were so welcoming and it was a really fun time,” Plottnik said.
The moments in the sun in the renotes are not repeated. Now that Tiktok has resumed normal operations, the app is no longer a priority, the creators and brands said.
“I don’t foresee any talk about alternative apps like Renote,” later CEO Scott Sutton said. “They were blips and they didn’t have the lasting power of other platforms.”
It is unclear whether Communist Chinese and Tiktok competitors will take lawmakers to court to enforce national security laws, said Neil Chilson, a former chief engineer with the Federal Trade Commission, who is currently in charge of artificial intelligence policy at the Institute of Non-Profit, which is non-profit. Taking such legal action risks upsetting Tiktok’s huge user base and Trump, Chilson said.
“Trump likes the kind of leverage the law offers him,” Chilson said. “He obviously uses it very aggressively, not legal texts.
