Temporary TikTok Ban — The Uncomfortable Truth to Creators
What this made creators and business owners face head on
I didn’t really use TikTok.
It wasn’t the kind of platform that I cared much about using. However, after seeing how much any video that I did post blew up, I could absolutely see why small business owners and creators gravitated towards the app in massive numbers.
I also completely understand why the TikTok sort-of ban put millions of people in a bit of a panic. Sure, the platform is built to be addictive, and banning it is forcing people to go cold-turkey on an app they’ve opened multiple times a day for years and scrolled through for hours (until it reopens for the lucky ones already having the app).
But it’s also a key platform that artists and small business owners used to build a crucial base of followers. While there’s still Instagram, YouTube, X, Bluesky, and a bounty of resources to help people get an audience, the TikTok ban slapped us in the face with a larger, harsher reality:
Job security for self-employment is a lot more out of our control than we thought.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, millions around the world lost their jobs — either temporarily or permanently. This led to a wave of people choosing to be self-employed and open small businesses, not just because few places were hiring. “Real” jobs with bosses, consistent paychecks, and benefits were not nearly as secure as we collectively assumed.
See the boost of gig economy apps like Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, and Rover.
Google “teachers joining OnlyFans,” and you’ll get a wave of stories.
Look at the 430,000 new business applications opening each month in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Speaking anecdotally as a small business owner myself, being a professional editor and ghostwriter through Astral Editing Services since March 2024, running a business is also more soul-fulfilling. Yes, it’s difficult. It’s costly. Any generated traffic is my responsibility. But it makes my life feel a lot more purposeful than being a disposable corporate drone.
Small businesses hold risks. Traditional jobs hold risks. However, the pandemic made us feel that one of these options offered more control than the other over our job security. There isn’t the risk of a mass corporate layoff.
We were entranced by the kind of “buck-stops-here” mentality of entrepreneurship. If our business tanks, there at least holds a sense of accountability and with it, the perceived sense of prevention. We can learn from mistakes around us, we can manage problems, and we can possibly start over if our business hits an unexpected snag.
But that TikTok ban…
The Unpredictability of a Tech-Dependent Job
The TikTok ban didn’t make us realize that creators can lose their jobs suddenly — see canceled creators, for example. It also didn’t make us realize that we could lose our business — that has been happening well before TikTok, or the advent of social media.
Sales can go down and struggle to get back up. Dissatisfied clients and bad experiences can affect business. Plenty of things can put a small business owner’s job security at risk.
However, we at least have the perceived benefit of adaptability.
TikTok going away was out of our control. There were hints of the ban that became a boy-crying-wolf kind of situation in which we didn’t fully believe that TikTok would go away. But then, it did.
But even people who regained access to TikTok were affected. They have limited accessibility from a good portion of their audience: ones who deleted the app on their phones before the ban and cannot get it back, and prospective followers who would have theoretically (re)downloaded the app but can’t. Access is only online in the U.S., which will hinder marketability on a platform designed primarily for phone use.
The real point is that any tech mega-company can disappear with all the data that followers gave it over the years, making the resources available to small business owners much more fickle.
When TikTok went down, creators at least still had YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook to post shorts. If something shuts down, there will always be something available to pick up the pieces. Creators always knew the benefit of multi-platform relevance, but honestly, every one of these social media sites is subject to the fate of TikTok.
Furthermore, access to any of these platforms are subject to disappear or change in any country around the world. Possibly, the U.S. TikTok ban may have fanned the flames of that happening.
New things become popular. Algorithms change and benefit different creators. Tech companies can be bought out and get a new makeover à la X. No one’s data is secure.
It is an absolute Wild West.
OK…But These Problems Have Always Existed
I grew up in the MySpace era and know all too well that anything online can become irrelevant or unprofitable. While MySpace still exists, it’s a shell of what it once was to those building an identity in the burgeoning online world.
Tech platforms evolving is also nothing new. Features get added or discontinued.
What makes the TikTok U.S. ban sting in a particularly unique way to creators is that this wasn’t the result of an app that went out of popularity. TikTok was one of the largest social media platforms in the country with no prospect of that popularity dying down. The rug was swept out from under us after years of legislation only threatening to ban it.
It’s already difficult to maintain a small business, and my God do we still need them. Small businesses don’t exist because people don’t want to have a real job and are “lazy” or “entitled” — far from it. Managing a business is one of the hardest things one can pursue.
Many owners, especially upon starting out, run small businesses as a side hustle until they can make it their full-time gig. Small businesses and art creation are the lifeblood of society, especially one now facing the growing existential threat of AI. We need art. We need things made with love. We need goods that a corporation wouldn’t think to make.
It doesn’t matter that the app came back, with limitations. What happened to TikTok is going to hurt businesses. Because of how new it is, the effects of the TikTok almost-ban will take some time to unfold. And while other platforms are still available to creators and entrepreneurs, this is going to lead to an avalanche of change.
For what it’s worth, we’re still living in the best era to share content.
Looking at my own business, I will be okay — again, I wasn’t into TikTok. I still have resources that can help promote Astral Editing Services. I can still build my brand. Heck, I’m doing that right now — I’m writing a Medium article for you to know who I am. I’m marketing myself.
However, I feel that small businesses and self-employment situations are a lot less secure because of the TikTok situation, not just because TikTok was culturally important, but because similar changes could follow suit, potentially at a higher rate. Technology evolves faster than we do. The TikTok U.S. “ban” is just one example of that axiom, and it’s understandable to feel uneasy about it.
But I urge you to keep creating. Keep fighting for your business. Keep marketing your work.
The road seems tougher now. We have a lot more hard work ahead of us. But artists? Creators? Business owners? Mavericks?
We’ve never been afraid of hard work.
Thank you for reading! If you wish to support me, you can buy me a coffee here.
