A TikTok ban looms. Creators say they’ll believe it when they see it.
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Sarah Perl is adamant that TikTok isn’t getting banned—so much so that the full-time content creator isn’t making any backup plans. “It’s nothing other than business as usual for me," said the 23-year-old from Los Angeles, who has spent four years making lifestyle content for her followers on the platform, which now number 2.5 million.
Perl, who sells two products directly on TikTok and uses it to promote her coaching services, said she credits the app with enabling her to become a millionaire shortly after college. She and other creators, brands and advertisers are blazing ahead with their businesses on TikTok even as the Chinese-owned app faces a congressionally mandated ban in the U.S. within weeks, barring a last-minute intervention.
Lawyers for TikTok and its parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, want the federal law overturned, and they have asked the Supreme Court to suspend the ban while they appeal a lower-court ruling upholding it. President-elect Donald Trump fueled hopes for an intervention just after Christmas when he asked the high court to stop the law from taking effect Jan. 19 as scheduled so he can pursue a solution to prevent a shutdown.
Meanwhile, users are taking an I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it approach as they continue posting dance videos, promoting products from TikTok Shop and telling personal stories while getting ready to go out for the evening. Mylen Yamamoto Tansingco, chief executive and founder of the Los Angeles talent-management firm Clique-Now, said creators’ anxiety regarding the possibility of a TikTok ban feels tepid these days compared with when the legislation was introduced in March. “Back then, we worked around the clock with our talent to
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