As TikTok legal fight plays out, Missouri creators and businesses brace for possible ban

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Missouri Business Alert, a member of the Kansas City Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and The Kansas City Beacon.

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Like many others suffering from quarantine-induced boredom, Gabbie Wiggins first hopped on social app and video platform TikTok in 2020 as a means to pass the time. She had just moved to St. Louis for work, and because of COVID-19, was unable to become acquainted with her new community.

TikTok creator Gabbie Wiggins is photographed at a Schnucks grocery store filming a video for her account, which promotes foods and things to do in the St. Louis area; photo courtesy of Gabbie Wiggins

Wiggins was initially opposed to the idea of TikTok, but that mindset changed after she learned about the different niches on the app. Observing other creators posting about their own experiences in St. Louis, Wiggins was inspired to use TikTok as a means to “dive deeper into what the city has to offer.”

“I started using TikTok almost like a diary,” Wiggins said. “I would post my visits of some of the places that I was starting to explore whenever I first moved to the city.”

Operating under the username @itisgabriellee, Wiggins posts primarily St. Louis-based “food and things-to-do content” on TikTok. In her videos, Wiggins recommends different St. Louis restaurants, bars, cafes and activity destinations. Four years after the pandemic, Wiggins’ account has accumulated about 45,000 followers and 783,000 likes on the app.

With the passage of a law last month that would force the sale of TikTok by its parent company or ban platform in the U.S., creators like Wiggins are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, flocking to other video-based platforms.

TikTok currently reports over 1 billion active monthly users, about 150 million of which are American. Launched in 2016 by Beijing-based internet company ByteDance, TikTok has long been plagued by accusations of sharing American data with Chinese authorities.

ByteDance has denied those allegations, and earlier this month it sued to block the ban, calling it unconstitutional. Last week, a group of TikTok creators filed a separate suit looking to block the law.

Under the law, ByteDance has up to a year to sell TikTok. If it is not sold within the given timeframe, TikTok will be removed from app stores.

Users with TikTok downloaded would not see the app disappear with the ban; new users would simply be unable to download TikTok. Because it would not be present on app stores, TikTok would not get updates, security patches and bug fixes, thus rendering the app unusable and a security risk as time goes on.

Shawn Denney, a growth strategist at Columbia-based digital marketing agency Intero Digital, said the proposed ban is “just another upcoming disruption” in the social media landscape, much like artificial intelligence. Intero Digital works with a range of business clients across the nation and has not had to voice concerns over TikTok to clients just yet, Denney said.

“It was more surprising that it was pushed through our government, but (it’s) not overly concerning in how it’s happening,” Denney said. “… If it does all go through, we’re still a year out from that, and then we’re probably still a year out from when they’re no longer able to receive updates to the platform and on your phone, so we’re probably two to three years out from TikTok having a significant decline in how people interact and use” the platform.

When Wiggins first heard about the TikTok ban passing Congress, she was “shocked.”

“I actually decided to expand on Instagram and I created my own account where I’m still posting the same content there,” Wiggins said. “With Instagram, I think it provides that stability at the moment, so I’ve kind of taken those preliminary steps there.”

About 5% of Wiggins’ annual income comes from her work on TikTok, she said.