TikTok ban would mean an ‘astronomical’ change for these Kansas City content creators

Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter.

President Joe Biden signed into law last year a bipartisan bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. based on national security concerns unless its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, divests from the company.

The law is slated to go into effect on Jan. 19, but is being challenged in court. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this week whether to pause the the ban, overturn it, or uphold it, which could eliminate access to TikTok for an estimated 170 million users in the U.S.

[Editor’s note: Since this story was first posted, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the planned ban of TikTok; outgoing President Biden has indicated he would not enforce the measure; and although President-Elect Trump has notably made a pivot against the ban, TikTok said late Friday that it would begin removing the popular app from the U.S. on Sunday.

RELATED: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, threatening app’s existence in the U.S.

Click here to listen to the full Up To Date podcast episode.

“I think they’re making (national security) a bigger concern than it actually is,” said Tiktok content creator @Andr3wsky. (Up To Date is not using Andrew’s last name due to his professional law career in Kansas City.)

“Obviously, we should have data privacy and protection laws here in the United States — and I’m glad to see Congress finally acting on that, even in this small capacity, even if I believe that their attempts are a little misguided,” Andrew said. “But I think the idea that we should be limiting speech as a matter of national security is fraught with concerns.”

While many people use TikTok for entertainment, there are an estimated 7 million content creators who utilize the platform to generate income.

For Luke and Paul Harwerth, twin brothers who go by the handle @Twinsauce, content creation on social media is a full time job. The brothers have over 550,000 followers on TikTok, and use their following to negotiate advertising deals, which make up about 60% of their salary.

“The amount of small businesses that have become massive because of this app, and livelihoods changed, lives changed, is astronomical,” said Luke Harweth. “It is inspiring to see how it’s worked, where places like other apps, it doesn’t happen, like we don’t see that level of virality, which can be very beneficial to these smaller companies.”

From the archives: ‘Just dudes who dance and we’re not ashamed of it’: Twin influencers chassé their way to 100K+ TikTok followers

Brian Ellison is a host and contributor at KCUR. Elizabeth Ruiz is a producer for Up To Date.

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