Jan 10, 23 | 4 min read
Possible TikTok ban in the US
Reading time: 4 minutes
TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas testified before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee in 2022 , stating that “non-U.S. employees, including employees in China, will only have access to a limited set of TikTok U.S. user data, such as videos and public comments, to ensure global interoperability.”
Regardless of what TikTok has in place, the fact remains that the Chinese government has established a requirement that all Chinese-owned companies must provide user data to authorities upon request.
That left TikTok in an interesting “catch-all” position, even before the story broke that TikTok’s parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance, had used TikTok to spy on certain American journalists . ByteDance gained access to personal data and the IP address of a Financial Times journalist because it thought the journalists had gained access to sensitive information. This is obviously a serious breach of privacy.
TikTok has currently been banned from any US House of Representatives phones and from government-issued phones in 19 states. TikTok is also under investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment due to its ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok is actively trying to negotiate a US data list of sudan consumer email deal with the Department of Justice. However, given the recent news that its parent company has been caught spying on American journalists, it is currently uncertain whether the deal can go through.
Indeed, they could face a complete ban in the US or they could be sold into US ownership. If a US ban does come into effect, this is likely to be followed by bans in other countries friendly to the American giant.
TikTok ban: the consequences for marketers
TikTok is a hugely popular platform among marketers, and for good reason. It has a large and increasingly receptive audience that marketers love. According to DataReportal , “the United States of America has 140.6 million active TikTok users aged 18 or older.” That’s a lot of users that will be lost if TikTok is banned, especially since marketers invested more money than ever before into the platform in 2022 .
Not only that, but with an ever-growing number of features and a wide range of audience analysis tools, TikTok makes it easier for marketers to reach the right people with the right content at the right time.
If TikTok is banned outright, anyone who has had all their marketing eggs firmly in the TikTok basket is in for a very bad time.
Before you panic, though, let’s remember that TikTok isn’t the only game in town. Every marketer still has access to all the other social platforms, many of which also boast large audiences, useful features, and great analytics.
What should marketers do now?
For now, it’s a waiting game. TikTok is still in negotiations with the Justice Department. It’s trying to reach a deal that would reassure the U.S. about security concerns and allow it to continue operating as usual.
While that leaves things up in the air for marketers right now, they can continue to run their businesses on TikTok and make the most of it while they can.
However, we suggest you make a plan in case a TikTok ban goes into effect in the US:
Make sure to provide links to your website, contact details, and other social platforms everywhere you can on TikTok. You can then direct users to follow you on other platforms so you don't lose all your followers if TikTok is no longer an option for you.
If you're all-in on TikTok with your marketing, start branching out and building your audience across different platforms. You might not find any changes, but it's never a good idea to build your entire marketing campaign solely on one platform, especially one you don't own.
Do everything you can to encourage followers to sign up for your mailing list. That way, you can continue to contact them if the platform is taken down.
Don't panic. The ban might not happen, so don't abandon — just yet — your carefully laid TikTok plans for the rest of the year. Let things play out and keep an eye on what happens, but for now, act as if it's business as usual. If more details come to light and a ban seems increasingly likely, you can always adjust and adapt your TikTok marketing plan to other platforms, like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
If you're doing really well on TikTok and generating a lot of traffic and sales, this may seem like the end of the world. But it's not. Take a breath and make a plan. The other social platforms will still be there for you to use and continue to connect with your audience, no matter what happens to TikTok.
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