The Supreme Court was asked to issue a temporary pause to allow TikTok to keep operating until after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, but had not issued a ruling as of noon Thursday. Trump has 14.7 million followers on TikTok and a Trump adviser said Wednesday that the president-elect is exploring options to “preserve” TikTok.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said his main concern is TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese company, and ByteDance’s requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence operations.
Many local content creators and small business owners use the app to grow their presence and their businesses, and some are worried about the ban.
Twenty Five and Pine — Kristina and Nick Molinaro
The Molinaros, who have over 101,000 followers on TikTok, started their woodworking business in 2018. They decided to take it full-time in 2020, when Kristina started making videos through TikTok. The all production-based business includes small tables and furniture and is sold only online. A big portion of sales come from TikTok and the Molinaros say the more they post, the higher the sales are.
“I started posting on TikTok and said if I hit 10,000 followers I will quit my job. People on TikTok started loving our posts and products and we hit 10,000 in a few months. Between other customer requests and (our best selling table), we built the business up. We went viral on TikTok and sold hundreds of tables in a couple days,” Kristina said, explaining they couldn’t fit in their basement anymore and had to move the business into a commercial space in 2021.
The couple traveled to Washington D.C. last spring to talk to senators about the ban and the impact TikTok has on their business.
“It is stressful; we don’t make sales from the other platforms and they don’t perform financially for us. I hope that it doesn’t happen and we’d encourage people to call senators and stick up for it because it’s hard to say at this point as what will happen,” Molinaro said. “... I’m a little stressed for it to potentially be banned because it’s a lifeline for our business.“
Credit: GREGORY L BERRY JR
Credit: GREGORY L BERRY JR
Morgan Turner — Dayton-area real estate agent
Turner, who has over 29,000 followers on TikTok, started in real estate in 2022 and knew social media would be her marketing platform, since she grew up with it and knew how to make it work for her business.
She started posting to TikTok in 2020 — things to do in the area, home tour videos, talkative videos about interactions she had with agents and clients, or just funny stories.
“I have gained leads straight from the app, either someone moving to the Dayton area or a realtor in another state looking for a realtor for their clients in Dayton,” she said. “Since TikTok reaches such a large audience, bigger than Instagram and Facebook, I am able to reach out-of-town buyers.”
With the potential ban, Turner said she’s already started focusing her efforts into Instagram and now has more clients from Instagram than TikTok.
“I am disappointed for it to potentially go away,” Turner said, calling it a good place to find DIY projects, hacks for weddings, news videos, workout plans, and more.
Dayton Infatuation — Logan Riley and Corey Hall:
Riley and Hall, who have 3,104 followers on TikTok, have been sharing their food journey since 2023 to get more people out to try new places in the Dayton area.
“We are all about posting our experiences to show folks in the area (and outside the area) the awesome spots the Gem City has to offer. We frequent staple restaurants, new restaurants, bars, breweries, and events,” the couple said.
The two said the “looming ban” is definitely a bummer, and like many others, if it goes away, they’ll move their focus to Instagram.
“We’ve seen super quick growth on TikTok, compared to Instagram. It seems like more eyeballs get to see our content ... We’ve noticed an influx of users commenting that their (For You page) is getting too local,’ which for us, is a good thing. We’ve also had a few comments from users telling us that they are from the area and haven’t even heard of some of the places we’re posting about,” they said.
Coffee Expressions — Jessica (and Kenny) Steele:
This Springfield coffee shop, which has 1,003 followers on TikTok, has used the platform for about a year to post fun videos and broaden their outreach.
“It’s great to have your name out there for out-of-towners who need a shop when they come into town,” said manager Jessica Steele, who said the platform has helped their business a little bit. “We haven’t been as consistent with our posting as we should be, but our customers will come in and talk about (the posts) and how relatable they are.”
As for the ban, Jessica said she thinks it’s a shame, saying the TikTok algorithm allows content you wouldn’t normally see on Instagram or Facebook.
Five Rivers MetroParks — Lauren Lemons, Marketing and Public Engagement Specialist:
Lemons, who runs the MetroParks’ social media accounts with 1,261 followers on TikTok, has been using the platform the last few years.
“Because young adults are frequently on TikTok and care passionately about stewarding the environment, we understand there is an opportunity to help educate users and inspire them to take care of our region’s green-spaces,” Lemons said. “We also recognize that it isn’t always possible for everyone to experience nature every day and in equitable ways, so we try to provide content that features immersive nature experiences and ways for people to access nature, no matter what their abilities and skill levels happen to be.”
TikTok was one of MetroParks' fastest growing platforms last year. While this may “seem counterintuitive for a social media strategy,” Lemons said they have interest in people using their phones less and hopes their content inspires them to unplug and go outside more.
“We do have feedback from users that they appreciate our parks and conservation efforts. Because of the way TikTok’s algorithm works, we have also had feedback from users who aren’t local but wish to visit our region based on our content – which is exciting,” she said.
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery — Taylor Hoffman, Director of Operations
The local natural history museum in Dayton, which has 4,886 followers on TikTok, has been using the platform for about two years to engage with a younger audience and post animal content that does well with that demographic.
“We get a lot of exposure and have even gone viral with a few of our Joe Burrow, the burrowing owl, videos,” Hoffman said. “It has helped us reach a wider audience and grown our digital presence globally. We see some conversion from TikTok for foot traffic, but it is mostly a branding vehicle we use to create more awareness about our museum and Dayton in general.”
Hoffman said they see more engagement on TikTok than other platforms.
“We appreciate TikTok being the place we went viral for the first time, but we will survive without it,” Hoffman said.
What does “going dark” mean?
ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and if that’s the case, the federal law would prohibit app stores from offering the app to new users.
If ByteDance shuts down the app entirely, users could get locked out of their videos – either made by themselves or others. If there’s not a complete shutdown, industry analysts said it’s unclear what ability people would have to upload content or save videos after the 19th, depending on how the ban is enforced, and how quickly.
TikTok has 170 million active users in the U.S. That includes over seven million businesses, with 52% relying on TikTok to stay competitive and 45% considering the platform critical to their business, according to the platform’s 2024 Economic Impact Report, which was conducted by Oxford Economics.
“TikTok delivers more than just entertainment—it fuels significant economic growth for U.S. businesses and the U.S. economy as a whole," TikTok officials said.
For years, U.S. lawmakers and administration officials have prioritized concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content on TikTok.
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