CALIFORNIA – TikTok shut down their social media app, January 18, to comply with a law that requires parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a U.S. company or shut down operations in the United States by Sunday, Jan. 19.
According to TikTok, 890,000 businesses actively use TikTok in California.
“In 2023, SMB’s [small and midsize businesses] use of TikTok in California as an advertisement and marketing platform contributed $3.4 billion to GDP and supported 28,000 jobs. SMB activity also generated more than $820 million in federal, state, and local tax revenue in the state,” said TikTok in a March 2024 Oxford Economics fact sheet.
The study also found that 60% of small businesses in California agree that their business needs to continue to use and improve upon TikTok marketing content in order to stay competitive.
‘Presidents and other politicians use TikTok to campaign’
In April, President Joe Biden signed the law arguing that the Chinese-based app poses a risk to national security.
TikTok says the ban violates their First Amendment rights to free speech. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against TikTok on Friday.
The app is no longer working on 170 million American users’ phones with a message stating that TikTok is in the process of trying to reinstate service.
TikTok users took to other social media platforms to express their frustrations.
“It makes absolutely no sense that presidents and other politicians would literally use TikTok as a platform to campaign, but then say it’s too corrupted by China,” said one Reddit user.
“Just look at how many senators invested in Meta (TikTok’s biggest competitor). I hope Meta tanks very soon,” said another user.
“This also has nothing to do with the 1st amendment or freedom of speech (even though that’s what TikTok is arguing in court). It’s all about control and access to data and the government is mad that such a big platform with so many American users exists outside of the control of the American oligarchs,” said another user.
Photo credit: German Marshall FundTrump wants U.S. to have 50% ownership in TikTok
President-elect Donald Trump issued an executive order for TikTok’s ban in 2020, citing a national security threat similar to Biden.
Trump said once he takes office he would “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” he wrote on Truth Social.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the U.S. presidential inauguration and a rally with Trump on Sunday, according to a Reuters source.
