Iowa TikTok influencers say ban could hurt their businesses
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Linda Tong (left) and Sarah Booz. Photos: Courtesy of Tong and Booz
Local influencer Sarah Booz found sudden fame in 2023 after posting a TikTok raving about Maccabee's Deli, a New Yorker-owned Jewish sandwich shop that exceeded her expectations after she'd moved here from the state.
- But this weekend, her following could be taken away just as fast depending on a Supreme Court ruling banning the app.
Why it matters: Beyond disappointing devoted users, the move would also disrupt influencers' multibillion-dollar creator economy.
- Booz, who has 45,000 TikTok followers, estimates she earned around $20,000 last year from the app and subsequent partnership deals.
Catch up fast: The future of accessing TikTok in the U.S. is being decided by the Supreme Court. So far, justices seem inclined to uphold a bipartisan law that would ban it as soon as Sunday.
- The push to ban TikTok in the U.S. stems from the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, signed into law last April by President Biden.
- The law mandates that ByteDance, the app's China-based parent company, sell it by Jan. 19 or face a ban in the U.S. It gave TikTok up to a year to find an approved buyer for the U.S. version of the app.
- The law stems from the U.S. government's national security concerns over the app's ties to China, including the spread of misinformation and espionage.
State of play: TikTok helped launch Linda Tong's planner business from small, hand-drawn notebooks to a full-time job distributing stationery around the U.S.
- Tong, who lives in West Des Moines, went viral on the app in 2020 after posting fun videos of her planners and how they can help people get organized.
- Since then, the app has remained her primary way of reaching customers as she shares videos and sells on the TikTok shop and during livestreams. She's also expanded into partnerships with major brands like PayPal and Canva.
What they're saying: "I'll be sad because I love the community that I have on TikTok," Tong tells Axios. "I know that they'll follow me to other platforms, but it's not possible to convert all of them over."
What's next: Tong is urging followers to connect with her on other platforms such as Instagram and YouTube, and she's exploring RedNote, another short-form video app based in China that has surged in Apple's U.S. app store as a potential TikTok replacement.
- Booz says she's considering jumping to YouTube.
- "I've never had as much success on another platform," Booz says. "Losing that overnight is kind of scary."