The End of TikTok? Creators Navigate an Uncertain Path

TikTok could go dark in the U.S. on Sunday, following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a ban on the social media app unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday, has said he'll think about what to do next — on Saturday he said he would "most likely" delay the ban, which is scheduled to take effect on Sunday.

He could also continue with the ban and push for the sale of the Chinese-owned platform to a U.S. company, as the law passed by Congress last year requires.

In the meantime, the huge community of creators who post videos on TikTok have taken to the platform to share their feelings about a potential TikTok-less future.

"It feels like I am losing a really good friend — and that sucks," said tearful TikToker Emily Senn, who has been contributing comedy and lifestyle videos to the platform over the past few years, and earning, she said, a steady income from these efforts. Beyond sadness, Senn's "farewell to TikTok" video cycles through many emotions, from anger against the U.S. government for banning the platform ("I'm never forgiving you for this!") to anxiety about the lost revenue stream. ("I'm worried about what I'm going to do financially.")

Not all TikTok creators are laden with woe.

Others have been having a bit of grim fun — user Yanxiao1003 is among the many creators to post content mocking the idea that a Chinese spy might be hiding in their phones.

We are not supposed to do this but I keep receiving requests from my viewers to review the privacy of the people we are watching," he said, before going on to give information on the individuals he'd been "spying" on.

Lawmakers who passed the ban were worried about what they describe as national security risks posed by the app. They warn it could be used by the Chinese government to influence and surveil its more than 170 million American users.

The TikTok difference

Social media platforms often have limited lifespans. X bears little resemblance today to the Twitter of yore. And now-extinct platforms like Meerkat, Periscope and Vine are only a dim memory to many.

But TikTok, launched in 2016, quickly became a bastion for creative expression. The platform set itself apart from Instagram and Facebook because of the way its algorithms worked.

"Instagram is really all about who you follow. And based on who you follow, they'll determine what content you see," said Eric Dahan, CEO of the social media marketing company Mighty Joy. "You look at TikTok, it's very content-driven. So it doesn't matter who you follow nearly as much.  It's really about what content you find interesting."

Dahan said that's why TikTok became such a large platform for creative discovery — where artists could share their work, go viral and build communities as well as their careers. The massive popularity of the BookTok literary community is a case in point.

" The main sign of a social platform being successful is its ability to generate and spark a unique community," Dahan said. "People that weren't considered creators prior became influencers through TikTok organically."

Making backup plans

Many creators have been seeking out TikTok alternatives in the past few weeks, with some migrating to Instagram or YouTube.

Others have been checking out potential creative homes on the Chinese apps RedNote and Lemon8.

In the days leading up to the TikTok ban, Lemon8 (which is owned by ByteDance, the same company that owns TikTok) soared to the top of the Apple App Store's most popular lifestyle app list. And according to data shared with NPR from digital marketing agency Hennessey Digital, Google Trends data showed RedNote attracted nearly 2.5 million searches in less than 48 hours.

Some former TikTokers have been unapologetic in their decision to migrate to these Chinese-owned apps.

"You think I'm going to join a Chinese app supporting the Chinese government to go against my home country, America?" said TikToker Danisha Carter in a recent video. "You'd be absolutely correct. Here is my RedNote profile."

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. government will also go after these platforms. It will still be up to the Trump administration to enforce the ban.

Trump alluded to the platform's future in a message posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday. "The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it," Trump wrote. "My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"

He told NBC on Saturday that he will "most likely" give the platform a 90-day extension from a potential ban, but had not made a final decision.

To some observers, TikTok's permanent shuttering seems unlikely.

" I think it will be a slow transition rather than just a complete shutdown," said Hao Zheng, a research fellow at Curtin University's Influencer Ethnography Research Lab in Perth, Australia.

And others, like influential TikToker Jools Lebron (of "very demure" meme fame), are expressing optimism about the future.

"It's not over till the fat lady sings," Lebron said in a post on TikTok on Friday. "We're not giving up just yet. I just believe it's going to be OK."

TikTok was restored on Sunday following assurances from President-elect Donald Trump that he would work with the Chinese-owned platform to prevent a permanent ban in the U.S., giving its 170 million American users a lifeline hours after it went dark.

Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday that he would issue an executive order following his inauguration to extend the period of time before the law would take effect, “so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”

In April, President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok — owned by the Chinese company ByteDance — to sell the popular social media platform to a U.S. company or face a shutdown amid fears that China's involvement posed a national security threat.

TikTok said in a statement Friday it "will be forced to go dark" on Jan. 19 unless the Biden administration gives more definitive assurances ahead of the scheduled ban.

Noel Francisco, an attorney for TikTok, told the Supreme Court on Friday that, to his understanding, the app would essentially shut down if it went dark.

A person with knowledge of the company’s planning told NBC News this week that the app going dark was a last resort. The Information reported on Tuesday, before the Supreme Court’s decision, that the app could go dark rather than allow people already on it to continue using it.

In Friday's statement, TikTok attempted to pressure the Biden administration into providing more detail on the outgoing president's plans for the scheduled ban.

But the White House said in a statement Friday that the Biden administration believes "that actions to implement the law" should be left up to President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday. The White House, however, made it clear that Biden believes the platform should operate under American ownership. str str str str str str str str