As TikTok faces a ban, creators brace for an uncertain future

What do you do when your dream is yanked out from under you? And, to make matters worse, the hand doing the yanking belongs to the colossal, omnipotent entity that is the U.S. government?

This could be the reality for the TikTok creators who’ve built entire careers on the app — a platform that has transformed what it means to be an influencer. For many, being a social media star is, in fact, a dream job — 57 percent of Gen Z say they want to be influencers.

But now, that dream, for some, is at risk of being abruptly snatched away. TikTok is facing a deadline of Jan. 19 — this Sunday — when it could be banned in the U.S. over concerns about its Chinese ownership.

As it stands, it appears the ban could at least be delayed. The Associated Press reported Thursday, citing an anonymous official, that President Joe Biden would not enforce the ban before he leaves office next week, effectively leaving the decision in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump.

Folks in Trump’s orbit have already expressed opposition to the ban, indicating the administration could at least stall the ban process. But that still leaves content creators who’ve built followings – and income streams – on the app preparing as best they can for what’s next.

For creators like Brandon Edelman, known to hundreds of thousands on the app as the chaotic and entertaining Bran Flakezz, the looming deadline feels like an existential threat. What if everything they’ve built disappears in a flash?

"This ban is so irresponsible and reckless," Edelman told Mashable, emphasizing the countless people who rely on the app for their livelihoods.

"If this app is banned, I'll use it every single minute I have until it goes away,” Edelman said. "I’m living in delusion, I guess. I won’t stress about it until I open the app, and it won't open."

The reactions from creators are as varied as the content they produce: some are frantic, others are unfazed, but all are left navigating a sea of uncertainty. Scroll through TikTok, and you’ll see creators urging followers to find them elsewhere, emotional farewells, and some who are practically indifferent to the possibility of the app's demise in the U.S.

"There’s a range," said Michael Berkowitz, co-founder of the Greenlight Group, a talent agency representing digital creators. "Some creators are extremely concerned and in a bit of a panic. Others? Not concerned at all. They don’t think the ban is actually going to happen."

TikTok changed everything. But what if it disappears?

Here’s the bottom line: nobody knows if the ban will happen, and even if it does, it’s unclear what kind of impact it will have.

"I don’t think we’ll see a full ban — where TikTok just vanishes from the face of the Earth — being a reality," Doug Landers, co-founder of Greenlight Group, told Mashable.

Some reports have suggested that TikTok was preparing for a radical and unprecedented step: a full-scale shutdown in the U.S. This would block access entirely, with users attempting to open the app being met by a pop-up redirecting them to a website with details about the ban. The move would effectively lock users out of the platform, marking a dramatic escalation in the app's ongoing battle for survival.

In a less extreme scenario that had long been expected, TikTok could simply be removed from app stores. While current users would still have access, the app would likely begin to degrade over time due to a lack of updates and maintenance.

But now it appears the decision could be in Trump's hands, which might mean TikTok sticks around. Alternatively, TikTok could also be sold to someone like... well, Elon Musk, and keep running in the U.S. (Mashable reached out TikTok for comment and did not receive a response.)

Even with all the "what-ifs," the threat of TikTok’s disappearance feels very real to creators. Users are already flocking to other platforms, and creators are scrambling to direct their followers elsewhere. For creators, the looming shutdown represents another crisis in an industry defined by its volatility.

Take Jordan Howlett, for example. You probably know him as @jordan_the_stallion8 — he’s the guy who went from chasing his pro baseball dreams to amassing nearly 14 million followers on TikTok. If you’ve scrolled your For You Page lately, you’ve likely seen him leaning into the camera and telling you to "come here" as he explains the latest viral moment.

"There was never a moment where I was like, 'Oh, I can do this for a living' because I come from a very traditional background where a 9-to-5 job was what stability truly meant," Howlett told Mashable.

But TikTok turned that notion on its head. "It has allowed me to wake up daily and figure out [how I can] express some kind of creativity," he said. The platform has given him a space to set goals and pursue them. "If I have a goal, I can try to achieve it."

For Howlett, that's meant collaborating with the likes of Kevin Hart, Donald Glover, Halle Berry, and Method Man — all thanks to his decision in 2020 to post up to eight videos a day as a creative outlet.

Or there’s Rebecca West-Remmey, half of the married duo behind Devour Power, a channel chronicling viral food mostly in the NYC era. For her and her husband, Greg Remmey, TikTok arrived long after they'd already built large followings on platforms like Instagram and YouTube.

Back in 2012, when "food porn" became a cultural catchphrase, they started posting mouthwatering videos of crispy, greasy, often over-the-top meals that made you hungry just watching them. After quitting their day jobs a decade ago, they became full-time creators, with TikTok becoming an increasingly important part of their income.

"It is a big platform for us, I'm not gonna lie," West-Remmey told Mashable. Since joining the platform in 2018, their account has amassed more than 4 million followers.

But even as TikTok’s rise has been meteoric for creators like her, the prospect of it disappearing doesn’t feel like the end of the world. In the world of digital media, nothing is certain. “Social media is the Wild West,” West-Remmey said. "You do not know what's going to happen. I don't know if Instagram is going to shut down tomorrow. There is a lot of uncertainty."

Instagram, YouTube, RedNote: Time to diversify

As the clock ticks down, creators are scrambling to take action. The basic steps are the same across the board: download your videos, alert followers where to find you next, and diversify your presence as much as possible.

But the situation looks different for everyone. For Devour Power, TikTok's possible disappearance won’t upend their entire business. A big chunk of their revenue comes from their media arm, which manages social media for dozens of restaurants. If TikTok vanishes, it simply means a change in strategy, not a collapse.

"Our restaurants are a little bit worried about TikTok being banned," West-Remmey said. "Our thought behind that is, if it is [banned], there are so many other directions that we can take that second platform space."

Other social media platforms, such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, and even RedNote — a Chinese app gaining international traction just days before the proposed ban — offer alternatives. With the advantage of time and significant effort, Devour Power has successfully expanded its presence across multiple platforms.

The outlook is more uncertain for smaller creators or those who built their following on TikTok. Take Avery-Claire Nugent, for example. With roughly 80k followers, Nugent took off by posting about girls who "cluster" tiny, precious objects in their homes.

Still juggling her full-time fashion job in New York City, she's already shifted part of her following to the Girls Who Cluster Instagram page, which functions as the brand's HQ, and recently launched a YouTube channel where she shares vlog-style videos about her day-to-day life.

But for Nugent, the ban presents a potential opportunity to step back and reassess.

"I'm going to take some time to touch some grass for a little bit, to really, you know, chill out," she told Mashable. "And then we'll see how the strategy goes for the rest of social media."

For now, TikTok is a valuable financial supplement to her 9-to-5 e-commerce gig, even if she'd one day love to go full-time with social media and Girls Who Cluster.

However, the landscape looks drastically different for creators like Edelman. He left his corporate job two years ago, and in the first summer after quitting, he earned double his previous annual salary.

Edelman quickly gained a following on TikTok because of his comedic content about Philly nightlife. He still cracks jokes about life in the city, but his range has expanded to include mental health, friendship, and, of course, the Eagles. For him, TikTok’s potential disappearance feels deeply personal.

"It's devastating," he said. "The amount of people who have found a voice and been able to tell their stories and have their lives changed...like myself, a 24-year-old gay guy from Philadelphia who was making $41,000 a year. My whole life transformed through this app."

Edelman isn’t overly concerned about his long-term future. He can pivot to Instagram, YouTube, his podcast, or whatever comes next. But losing TikTok would still be a major financial blow in the short term. Between TikTok's Creator Fund and brand partnerships, he estimates that TikTok accounts for about a third of his income — hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Creators who rely on TikTok Shop or affiliate links would be hit even harder.

But the real question looms larger: What happens to the smaller creators, the ones still building their careers on TikTok? Or to the behind-the-scenes teams — accountants, assistants, videographers — who depend on social media's booming ecosystem to make a living?

Still, if TikTok is banned, the ad money creators depend on will likely flow to other platforms.

"Influencer marketing is not going away, and marketing dollars are not going to stop flowing into the creator economy," Berkowitz said. "But if TikTok is banned, they'll certainly shift that spend to other platforms. Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat will probably benefit the most."

Berkowitz noted that Greenlight has been adding clauses to brand deals to allow advertisers to redirect their content to other platforms should TikTok vanish. They’ve worked closely with their clients — including creators like Howlett — to identify the platforms that will work best for their content.

The founders of Greenlight see TikTok’s rise as the dawn of a new kind of influencer: one that’s more relatable and more personal. That parasocial bond won’t disappear overnight.

"The creators who have a tight-knit community will be able to more successfully transition their followers onto other platforms," Berkowitz said.

So... What now?

In short, the clock could be ticking on the clock app, even if it may have just gotten an extension. To paraphrase a modern digital philosopher, no one is planning to log off. 

"If TikTok goes away, the passion I [feel] from doing those things — that doesn't go away," Howlett told Mashable. "I'm going to keep going until it's either not fun anymore or I found a different way to express [myself]... If TikTok is gone, it's not going to stop me [from] wanting to make videos."

When you're as big as Howlett — he's got 12 million followers on Instagram and 4 million on YouTube — the audience and income will likely follow. But what replaces TikTok? That's anyone’s guess. And in the world of viral content, it might not be just one app that takes its place. Things move fast.

For West-Remmey, the rise and fall of platforms is a game they’re used to. In fact, after years of being an afterthought, Snapchat is now a major part of their strategy again.

"You can't have all your eggs in one basket," she said. "It's a lot of work to manage multiple platforms. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's easy."

For creators who thrive on TikTok’s creative freedom, the idea of it disappearing is a hard pill to swallow. Nugent, whose "Girls Who Cluster" trend gained a devoted following on the app, will mourn the community TikTok cultivated.

"What I will miss the most is the people on TikTok," Nugent said. "Those are my OG girls; those are my girls who have given me everything I have today, all these opportunities."

Those girls, that community, landed Nugent in the pages of major magazines. It’s a bond that, for many creators, feels impossible to replace.

But this is the social media game. If your job is online, you’ve learned to pivot. Remember Vine? Remember Tumblr at its peak? Hell, remember Twitter? Ban or no ban, TikTok creators are already considering their next steps. For someone like Edelman, despite some jokes to the contrary, he's not planning on letting the doors that TikTok have opened close once again.

"I can support my parents now, who are retired. I can buy them a new oven next month because they won't buy it for themselves," he said. "I can take my mom and get her sneakers when her fucking big toe is hanging out the front because my parents are poor, for lack of a better word. I've been able to change their lives."

TikTok might soon be gone — but the void it leaves behind might be an opportunity for creators to shape the next big thing.