The first shock of a part of America: Without TikTok, many people lost 70% of their income, isolated from the rest of the world

Isaac, the influential KOLs on TikTok in Montana, recently confessed to 456,300 followers:

“The year 2023 may be the last year you see me on TikTok. If you still like my channel, don’t worry, I linked up with YouTube and started building Instagram this summer.”

Isaac is just one of many KOLs who have been plagued by the sudden TikTok ban of Governor Greg Gianforte – who recently signed into law (effective in 2024) making Montana the first state in the country. US bans Chinese social media apps outright.

The Montana ban will take effect on January 1, banning TikTok from operating in the Treasure State and a variety of app stores, such as Google Play and the Apple Store. TikTok and app stores will be fined 10,000 USD / day if they break the law. Individual TikTok users will not be penalized.

Outraged, a group of Montanans filed a lawsuit, arguing that the ban violates constitutional rights. “Mr Gianforte signed a bill that violates the rights of the people of Montana by illegally banning TikTok,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement.

“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature trampled on the free speech rights of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use TikTok to express themselves, get information, and run businesses. their children,” the ACLU’s local policy director, Keegan Medrando, said in a statement.

On TikTok, many people also expressed confusion at Montana’s ban, claiming that it infringed on their freedom of speech and did not respect the time and effort that content creators put in. for platform. Some argue that the ban will not solve America’s security problems because Montana is not a populous state, nor many important people are easily influenced by China.

“The amount of work, time, effort that everyone has put in makes the ban like a step forward, two steps back,” said Lilxlunatic, an influencer with 20,000 TikTok followers. “I understand TikTok is made in China, but the reality is that all of our information has been sifted through layers in the US. Our TikTok is completely different from China’s TikTok.”

“I think our governor is a bit silly,” said Christian Poole, an influencer with 418,500 followers.

The “silly” has made KOLs who make money through TikTok “bewildered” because for them, losing TikTok means losing income. The story of Nelson is a prime example.

TikTok has been Nelson’s full-time job for about a year since she quit her job as a fitness trainer. Currently, this girl has more than 200,000 followers.

“Probably 70% of my income comes from TikTok,” said Nelson, later estimating he earns between $30,000 and $40,000 a year from the platform. Tens of thousands of dollars invested in courses and training to help grow the business turned dust immediately after the ban took effect. “TikTok is a powerful algorithmic discovery platform.”

Ashley and Brittany Luly – twins with more than 500,000 followers on TikTok share the same opinion. This is not a full-time job, but it also helps the sisters earn a decent amount of money each month, usually $ 6,000 / video.

As for Nicole O’Shea, losing TikTok almost means losing a job. She specializes in getting paid by brands to create product promotional videos.

“I had to rebuild everything from scratch. I wouldn’t be able to make easy money without TikTok,” Nicole said, adding that she earns about $3,500 a month on average doing content for TikTok. “I’m a law-abiding Montanan, and not using TikTok anymore cost me a lot of income, losing the ability to provide for my children.”

Crissy Thomas, 38, initially thought TikTok was just an app for funny videos, but quickly realized the platform’s value in life. The owner of this beef ranch now has a small audience of less than 5,000 followers, does not use TikTok for business, but understands that the ban will still have some impact on him.

“We are isolated from the rest of the world,” says Crissy Thomas.

Prior to that, Montana law cited national security concerns as the basis for banning TikTok. Several Joe Biden administration officials and members of Congress have also said that the Chinese government could order TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, to use TikTok to spy on Americans. or spread false propaganda. In response, TikTok asserted that the above scenario never happened, and proposed a $1.5 billion plan to block US operations from China.

By: The New York Times, Fortune