Threat of TikTok ban has creators scrambling to build followings on Instagram, YouTube

Chad Spangler filming a video.Courtesy: Chad SpanglerAs TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced hours of grueling questioning from members of Congress in late March, small business owner Chad Spangler watched in frustration.The bipartisan congressional committee was exploring how TikTok, the massively popular short-form video app owned by China’s ByteDance, could pose a potential privacy and security threat to U.S. consumers.Representatives grilled Chew about the app’s addictive features, possibly dangerous posts and whether U.S. user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government. Politicians have been threatening a nationwide TikTok ban unless ByteDance sells its stake in the app, a move China said it “strongly” opposed.But that’s not the only source of dissent. Creators such as Spangler, who sells his artwork online, are worried about their livelihood.TikTok has emerged as a major piece of the so-called creator economy, which has swelled past $100 billion annually, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. Creators have formed lucrative partnerships with brands, and small business owners such as Spangler use the sizable audiences they’ve built on TikTok to promote their work and drive traffic to their websites.”That’s the power of TikTok,” Spangler said, adding that the app drives the majority of sales for
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