Exclusive: Most young people oppose TikTok ban, survey finds
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About 73% of 13- to 39-year-olds in the U.S. said they don't support a TikTok ban in a new survey from YPulse, a youth research organization.
Why it matters: The app could go dark as soon as Sunday if the Supreme Court upholds a law that forces a ban if the app is not sold to a U.S. buyer. China-based owner ByteDance sued over the law and hasn't indicated it plans to sell.
- The group surveyed has "a more positive view of social media than a negative one, even while being aware of the drawbacks," said MaryLeigh Bliss, YPulse's chief content officer.
- The federal law focused on concerns about data security practices. But multiple states have sued TikTok for alleged harm to kids via its addictive features.
State of play: While both millennials and Gen Z oppose a ban, the older generation was five percentage points more likely to support it, per the survey.
- 64% of respondents said they will miss watching TikTok content, and a slightly smaller share (58%) said they'd miss specific creators and accounts.
Between the lines: More than a quarter of respondents said their own work or income would be affected by a TikTok ban, YPulse found.
- Influencers and content creators started preparing for the shifts to the multibillion dollar creator economy by asking followers to find them on other platforms.
- A Pew survey last year found that the top 25% of TikTok users produced 98% of public videos on the platform, but there are jobs that have come to involve TikTok use, even if that doesn't explicitly mean posting.
- "There's financial repercussions as well," Bliss said," whether it's a side hustle or they're a social media manager — there's a lot of different ways that could be."
Zoom in: Just over a quarter of respondents agreed that they're addicted to TikTok and would be better off without it, per YPulse.
- "They know they're addicted to social media, but they don't think they would be better off without the app," Bliss said.
Catch up quick: President Biden last year signed into law a bipartisan bill that forces ByteDance to divest from the app by Jan. 19 or face a nationwide ban.
- The sale-or-ban deadline could be extended 100 days if a sale is underway.
What's next: Most respondents said they'd turn to YouTube (32%) and Instagram (25%) if TikTok shuts down, per YPulse.
- Short-form video app Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote in English, was rapidly downloaded as a potential ban loomed.
- Lemon8, another app run by ByteDance, has sponsored posts on TikTok encouraging users to migrate there. But the law would also affect other apps ByteDance owns.
Go deeper:
Methodology: YPulse surveyed 1,000 13 to 39 year olds in the U.S. from Jan. 8 to 15. The margin of error is about +/-3%.
