Proposed TikTok Ban “Very Worrisome”

 

April 4, 2024

LAS VEGAS – About a week after the Prosper Show last month, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill to force ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to sell the company. The bill would give ByteDance about six months to sell or face a ban. Members of the House cited national security concerns.

Fast forward to April and Reuters reports that TikTok is being discussed in high-level international communications. “TikTok and its ownership came up as a topic of conversation in the call between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday [April 2],” writes Reuters. “Biden raised American concerns about the app’s ownership.”

TikTok Shop had a significant presence at Prosper Show 2024, with presenters such as Mandeep Kaur describing how she uses it to educate and inspire. With the ubiquitous app under scrutiny in Washington, online sellers are keeping a close eye on the issue.

“As a Canadian business content creator, the potential ban of TikTok is very worrisome,” says Kaur, a full-time Amazon FBA seller based in Vancouver, BC. “As traditional forms of media are disappearing, people have found knowledge, education, and community on TikTok. A majority of my followers are women, and women make up a small percentage of e-commerce entrepreneurs. The best part of TikTok for me has been the ability to use my platform to inspire female entrepreneurs who would traditionally not be able to start an e-commerce business due to lack of support, motivation, and inspiration.”

According to Reuters and other news outlets, the bill has stalled in the Senate, but Biden has said he “would sign such a bill if it reached his desk.” If the ban does eventually happen, Marcus Gverzdys, a sales team lead at Prosper Show exhibitor Perpetua, is curious to see if the budgets allocated for TikTok will move to a different platform such as Instagram.

If not Instagram, Gverzdys believes those budgets may be invested into Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner) programs, or perhaps to sponsored ads, which could drive up the cost per clicks (CPCs). “TikTok has been known to compensate creators very well versus Meta platform,” he says. “My first thought is to think about those who have created a following and thus, a living off of the platform. They’re in a very difficult spot if the ban goes through.”