On march 13th, the US house of representative voted to pass the bipartisan bill urging ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to either sell the company or prohibit the app from being available in the US. Now you're probably wondering, what does that even mean? In short, lawmakers are concerned TikTok could be used as an instrument by the Chinese communist party to infiltrate United States democratic processes and influence users through content or by collecting user data.
Content creators and small businesses have warned the public and officials alike of the economic impact this ban could potentially bring for all involved. In fact, it was reported a total ban on the app could cost around $6.8 billion to the economy!
For us in the PR and communications industry, a ban on TikTok can also have a direct impact on business. For instance, many small businesses have relied on this social platform to bring in customers and some will even reach out to agencies for strategy ideas. Based on TikTok's algorithm, the potential of your video going viral is a lot more prominent than on other social networks as TikTok focuses more on showing you content that it's algorithm thinks you'll like versus simply who you are following and it's resemblance. Think about how many videos you’ve seen of the newest, most trendy coffee shop in town? Maybe it's of the latest restaurant opening or giving you a behind the scenes look into your favorite local business. Regardless of whether an institution paid a company like us to help generate more buzz for their business, losing TikTok is both limiting the service we as an industry can offer, as well as limiting opportunities and loss of revenue for all those involved.
In Canada, the app was banned from federal government mobile devices since February 2023 however no word so far on if any further bans are to come.
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Written by Gabrielle Telemaque
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