Canadian content creators react to potential TikTok ban after U.S. House passed bill over security concerns

Content creators worried about possible TikTok ban Many Ottawa content creators say a TIkTok ban in the U.S. would impact their pocketbooks. CTV's Kimberley Fowler reports.

TikTok, the app owned by Chinese technology company Bytedance, has been targeted as an enemy of the state by American members of the U.S. Congress. They want the owners to sell it, or it will be blocked.

Dominique Baker is a Canadian content creator with over 163,000 followers on TikTok, most of them from the U.S. "I get a lot of opportunities from American brands, so I think I will be hit," says Baker. "I think I will see a dip in my income if there is a ban in the US for TikTok. It's a bit scary, I think the engagement will really, really tank."

With about 170 million users, TikTok's American market is a place Canadian content creators can tap into, and make a lot of money. Baker notes, "I will most definitely be focusing more on YouTube. I have a pretty thriving community on YouTube so if an American ban on does go ahead; I will be putting all of my energy into Instagram and YouTube."

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that could ban TikTok over security concerns, calling on Bytedance to sell its American assets within six months, or be blocked.

Vitus Spehar is an American TikToker with over 3.1 million followers. "This is my livelihood, it's been one of the greatest discoverability platforms for the average person to break into, making their passion a reality," Spehar says. "There are over 300,000 American jobs that work on TikTok that would be affected if there were a ban. So, we're talking about taking billions of dollars out of the local economy from one of the social media apps that has provided the greatest amount of social mobility for the average person."

With the news of a potential ban south of the border, it has just been made public in Canada, that in September 2023 the federal government ordered a national security review of TikTok. The federal government also banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023, after federal and provincial privacy commissioners launched their own investigation into the platform.

Jérôme Miousse, Director of Public Affairs with Tourism Ottawa says, their social media accounts have followers from all over the world. "We're doing well with Instagram, where we have over 160,000 followers, we also have a good amount on Facebook and LinkedIn on where they do more of the business/corporate side of their marketing." Miousse adds, "If there is a ban in the states, we'll just adapt to it, and repurpose efforts to other social media platforms which we already use. We like to use all tools at our disposal to reach all of our audiences, so of course if we notice that younger people, gen Z, or millennials are on social media. The most important thing is to reach people where they are."

While TikTok argues its creators will lose billions of dollars if there is a ban in the U.S., they also note 1 in 3 American users gets their news from the app, and between 5 and 7 million small business that use the platform say TikTok brings them in the most money.