In October 2020, Rod Thill decided to try parlaying his small social media following into a much larger audience.
He could showcase his “relatable millennial humor,” he thought, by learning the algorithm of one of the most popular social media platforms in the world — TikTok.
It didn’t take long for his videos on the short-form video app to take off. Now the West Loop-based creator boasts 1.6 million followers on the platform.
But after years of national security concerns around TikTok, Thill could lose the app he now calls his “most comfortable.”
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban TikTok in the United States over assertions the app’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, could obtain users’ data in order to influence Americans. China’s national security laws dictate that if requested, companies must turn over customer data.
TikTok says it employs security measures to protect user information and warns the potential ban “sets a dangerous precedent for the concept of free expression and open markets.”
Although the bipartisan ban passed in the House, it still needs to be approved by the U.S. Senate. If that happens, ByteDance will have six months to find a non-Chinese buyer, or it will no longer be accessible through regular channels in the U.S.
Critics of the proposed ban think privacy concerns are rooted in xenophobia and that the ban is an infringement on the First Amendment.
“It’s unfortunate, because I think it’s very much a sign of a sort of xenophobia around China,” said Erik Nisbet, a Northwestern professor and director of the university’s Center for Communication and Public Policy. “There are legitimate concerns of having a foreign government have this access, though the evidence is unclear how much access they have.”
Adds Mylo Reyes, a 31-year-old creator in Ukranian Village: “A lot of the hearings for it are pretty much xenophobia-fest. So I never really thought it’d get anywhere. But here we are.”
Eniah Hill, a creator who runs an account dedicated to reviewing restaurants and finding fun activities in Chicago, said, “Things are, like, happening so fast. It’s kind of crazy, they never move quickly on anything. But on this for whatever reason, it’s accelerated.”
Some of her friends who are not creators are “freaking out about it,” Hill said.
“I think everyone needs an escape at some point, and if Tiktok is that escape for some people, I think it’s crazy to have that possibly taken away from us,” she said.
“TikTok is like the wild card compared to Facebook and Instagram, since they’re owned by U.S. companies,” Hill said. “I think they just feel like they can’t control the information that we get, and it’s corrupting the youth. But the youth is probably already corrupted at this point, to be honest.”
Even if the ban passes in the Senate, Nisbet believes there will be a lot of litigation about freedom of speech. The ban would likely be deemed unconstitutional, he said.
Reyes, who has 1 million likes on TikTok, uploads comedic videos with a “working-class neighborhood perspective” from a Chicago point of view. He makes some money through local sponsorships on the app.
“It’s a bummer,” he said. “Outside of the fact that people can stay organized and informed — which is wild because it’s been thought of as a ‘do a little dance app’ — I think every social media app has a very unique voice in terms of the entertainment value.”
Reyes doesn’t think a total ban would affect him much.
“The big creators — like the people who make a living off of TikTok — will have to pivot to another platform,” he said. “But woe is me, it’s not that sad.”
Creators may head to other platforms that have been playing catch up to TikTok. YouTube created YouTube Shorts, and Facebook and Instagram now have Reels.
Hill says although her account isn’t huge, she dreads the prospect of starting over on a new platform.
For Thill, the resources and events provided by TikTok make it the “only [platform] that truly values the creators.” He’s most concerned about the hundreds of TikTok employees that would lose their jobs.
“This does suck … But at the end of the day, I think there’s bigger things going on.”
