Advertisers Brace For Potential TikTok Ban This Sunday

TikTok logo with a cross on the "o," symbolizing a potential ban.

Advertisers are in a rush to prepare for a potential United States ban on TikTok this Sunday. The app, owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, poses national security concerns. Kerry Purse, a marketing consultant said "It seemed unbelievable even as of just a few weeks ago to imagine that... there would be no TikTok." If banned, eleven billion dollars in ad spending could shift to other apps such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. With the app's future uncertain, online brands, creators, and users of the app are downloading their data, hoping to save their work. TikTok has played a key role in the world of social media, especially among young Americans. The number of active users on TikTok has grown exponentially from 133 million in 2018 to over 1.5 billion in 2023. The average age of TikTok users is proven to be 24 years old.

How might this ban impact things?

The United States of America, where the potential ban is currently being debated, accounts for the second-largest amount of TikTok users. This ban could have major implications on not only online advertising and creators, but also the political power of the Judicial Branch, more specifically Supreme Court (of the United States of America). Additionally, many TikTok creators' only source of income relies on this app. Therefore, a ban on TikTok might mean they have to find a new job, or migrate to a separate platform. Concerns are also rising about the fact that if TikTok does get banned, the Supreme Court may rule Meta as a monopoly, seeing as the tech and social media giant owns nearly all of the other social media apps out there (of the ones that are widely used in the U.S.). These apps include WhatsApp, FaceBook, Instagram, [FaceBook] Messenger, and Threads. Without TikTok, Meta could easily end up dominating the social media market.