]
How reliant are Americans on TikTok?
The majority of U.S. teenagers and a third of adults use TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center. Most people use it to watch entertaining, short-form videos. A subset of users — content creators and small business owners — rely on the platform for income.
Some past opinion polling showed a majority of Americans did not want want the app to go away. A poll conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in January 2024 found a three-way split among Americans when it came to banning the platform, with roughly a third favoring or opposing it or not having an opinion on the topic. Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center survey conducted in July and August said public support for a ban had declined to 32% from 50% in March 2023.
What will happen to TikTok if it gets banned?
If TikTok gets banned — and stays banned — in the U.S., it will take a big financial hit. Attorneys for the company said in court documents that even if a U.S. shutdown lasted one month, TikTok would lose 29% of its total “targeted global” advertising revenue for 2025 as well as talented current and prospective employees. However, the platform likely won’t fully go away since it remains popular abroad.
For now, the company has tried to assure its U.S. employees they can continue to come to work. Earlier this week, TikTok told its U.S. workers that its offices would remain open for work even if the “situation” were not resolved by Sunday.
In the memo, which was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by the company, TikTok told employees that their “employment, pay and benefits” were secure, adding that the ban law was written in a way that impacts the U.S. user experience but not TikTok as an employer.
TikTok’s other troubles
The sell-or-ban law is not the only legal issue that TikTok and ByteDance encountered last year.
In October, more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia sued TikTok, alleging the app was designed to be addictive to children and harms their mental health. Virginia’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Friday making similar claims while also alleging TikTok had misled the public about the Chinese government’s ability to misuse information about American users.
Other nations also have taken action to restrict or penalize TikTok.
On Dec. 30, Venezuela’s Supreme Court fined TikTok $10 million for “not implementing measures” to prevent viral video challenges that government officials alleged had led to the deaths of three Venezuelan children last year.
Albania’s prime minister announced earlier in December that his government would shut down TikTok for one year because the platform allegedly incited violence and bullying, especially among children.
Also last month, European Union regulators opened an investigation into whether TikTok breached the EU’s online safety and fairness rules by failing to prevent alleged Russian interference in Romania’s presidential election. TikTok said it had “protected the integrity” of its platform during over 150 elections around the world.
