Stress is setting in for US TikTok influencers, who are turning to their favorite app to vent their frustrations after legislation that could ban the platform passed the House with overwhelming support on Wednesday.
Content creators are now worried they could be forced to return to dreaded nine-to-five careers as the bill now heads to the Senate.
Funny memes also appeared on TikTok on Wednesday afternoon as users made jokes about the potential ban on the platform, which has more than a million active users in the United States.
Michelle York, an influencer who has nearly 200,000 followers on the platform, posted a video of herself wearing an awkward smile while singing along to the viral soundtrack ‘Me!’ from Glee.
‘All that work and what it got me. Why did I do it,’ she sings, while the overlaid lyrics read: ‘When you spent 20 years building a career in the insurance industry only to quit your job to be a content creator and now TikTok could be banned’.
Outraged US TikTok influencers vented their frustration after legislation that could ban the platform passed the House with overwhelming support on Wednesday. Pictured: Michelle York, who quit her job in the insurance industry to become a TikTok influencer
One user created a funny meme of a scene from the Disney movie Camp Rock 2 with the caption “Gen Z on their way to storm the capitol”
The House voted 352-65 on Wednesday in favor of the bill that could ban the app, with only 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voting against it
Along with posting the video, York wrote: ‘I keep getting messages about this and honestly I’m not super worried. It will take a LOT to go through, which is unlikely to happen in 2024.’
But she continued: ‘If it does, I have no control and will spin. BE LOUD! Censorship is real,” while asking her followers to find me on other platforms, including Instagram.
One user created a funny meme of a scene from the Disney movie Camp Rock 2 with the caption “Gen Z on their way to storm the capitol.”
The House voted 352-65 on Wednesday in favor of the bill that would ban the app, with only 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voting against it.
President Joe Biden has also urged the Senate to pass a bill that would force TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company under the legislation.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Biden continued to support the bill that would ban the app and would sign it if it reached his desk.
Funny memes also appeared on TikTok on Wednesday afternoon as users made jokes about the potential ban on the platform, which has more than a million active users in the US
The remarks sparked outrage among TikTok influencers, including @pearlmania500, who has more than a million followers on the platform, as he furiously vents frustration in a video.
‘The only thing all 535 members of this Congress could agree on is to ban TikTok? That is it?’ he shouted in the video, which has amassed nearly ten million views.
‘I heard them talking about raising the minimum wage. Can’t bloody agree with that. Heard talk about trying to keep prescription drug prices low for people. No, I can’t agree to that!’ He continued.
‘But when it comes to banning TikTok, stand up friends! Bring the damn Instagram and Microsoft money down here,’ he shouted.
Attorney Brittany K. Barnett weighed in, posting a video of himself walks with a serious expression, saying that there are far more critical issues that lawmakers should prioritize.
Attorney Brittany K. Barnett weighed in, posting a video of herself walking with a serious expression, saying there are far more critical issues lawmakers should prioritize
Plastic surgeon Michael Salzhauer, known as Dr.Miami on the platform, does not seem to share the sentiment with other influencers
She wrote: ‘When you’re a lawyer trying to figure out why they’re trying to ban TikTok but not raise the minimum wage, lower housing costs, reform the criminal justice system…’
Other users who rely on the social media platform as their main source of income are worried about losing their jobs if TikTok is banned.
Lohanny Santos, a creator based in Brooklyn, New York, captioned her video: “Looks like TikTok is getting banned and I literally just got a new job running a TikTok account.”
Along with posting the video, she wrote: ‘I literally just started slaying on social media. And now they want me dead? It’s insane. I LOVE BEING TIK TOKER!’
Potashwho is homeschooling her daughter while working as a content creator, said: ‘The TikTok ban makes me feel like one of the musicians on the Titanic as it goes down.’
“As I keep playing for you while the ship goes down,” she added.
Plastic surgeon Michael Salzhauer, known as Dr.Miami on the platform, does not seem to share the sentiment with other influencers.
Kali, who homeschools her daughter while working as a content creator, said: ‘The TikTok ban makes me feel like one of the musicians on the Titanic as it goes down’
Lohanny Santos, a creator based in Brooklyn, New York, captioned her video: “Looks like TikTok is getting banned and I literally just got a new job running a TikTok account
Influencer Summer Noel chimed in by sharing her thoughts on the potential ban from a ‘Christian perspective’
He posted a video of him chuckling as he wrote: ‘I know I’ll still have a career even if TikTok gets banned because despite popular belief I’m an actual doctor.’
Meanwhile, his marketing agent Santina Rizzi also responded to the potential TikTok ban by saying, ‘I’m figuring out how I’m going to rebrand after making a career out of bullying a plastic surgeon on an app that gets banned Every other month.’
The two videos have sparked overwhelming reactions, with thousands of users commenting with crying emojis under their posts.
Influencer Summer Noel chimed in by sharing her thoughts on the potential ban from a ‘Christian perspective’.
She said: ‘This is the perfect example of the Bible verse that says ‘the grass withers and the flowers wither, but the word of the Lord endures forever’.
She described the platform and community as ‘a great blessing from God’ that has brought so much blessing in her life.
Noel ended the video by saying: ‘We need not worry, for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.’
TikTok advocates rallied outside the Capitol ahead of Wednesday’s vote to push back against the bill
Politicians have long expressed concern about TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which is headquartered in Beijing and is suspected of having links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Fueling their fears is a set of Chinese national security laws that force organizations to comply with intelligence gathering.
In 2022, TikTok announced Project Texas, an unprecedented initiative to store all US user data on servers in the country.
In June of that year, the platform reported that all US user traffic was being redirected to cloud infrastructure in the US.
TikTok also announced that it would also delete ‘historically protected user data’ in data centers in both Virginia and Singapore.
If the bill were to pass the Senate and be signed into law, TikTok would lose a significant portion of its advertising market.
A 2022 study by the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health found that the app generated $2 billion in ad revenue from users aged 13-17 in the US alone.