Editor's note: On April 23, local time, the U.S. Senate passed a bill requiring Chinese technology company ByteDance to divest TikTok or the app would be banned from the U.S. market. The White House said that US President Joe Biden will sign the bill on the 24th. The ban caused an uproar in the United States, with many American influencers, influencers, entrepreneurs, and citizens opposing it, saying that their careers would be destroyed and years of work would be "permanently erased", which "would bring down a modern creative digital industry that people know little about." Phoenix Reference has compiled an April 23 Business Insider article to give readers something to think about.
文章来源：Business Insider
原标题：TikTok influencers fear their careers will be destroyed and their work 'deleted forever' as a US ban looms
Compiler: Song Dongze, Zhuo Wei, Ding Lin
"You have deprived us of our choice"
TikTok users are stressed that the app could be banned in the U.S. because it would be a "devastating" blow to their careers and the businesses they built would "shrink and die."
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Saturday to pass a bill that would force Chinese company ByteDance to sell its TikTok assets in the U.S. or face a nationwide ban.
The bill means that TikTok is likely to be banned in the United States in 2025, although a true full ban could take longer.
Still, the creators were outraged, arguing that this hypocritical bill violated their freedom of speech.
▎ 芝加哥网红 Giovanna Gonzalez 在国会山外示威,抗议 TikTok禁令。
Those who support a ban on TikTok argue that TikTok could hand over user data to the Chinese government and that government pressure could suppress or amplify certain topics.
TikTok has repeatedly denied the allegations and tried to distance itself from ByteDance, and the platform has also urged people to call their representatives and voice their opposition to TikTok's ban.
The creators enthusiastically mobilized against the bill and rebuked the hypocrisy of the US government. They claim that the bill is overly focused on TikTok and ignorant of other tech companies such as Meta and Google.
Leo LonDini, who has 9 million followers, questioned whether other companies with some Chinese holdings could stay out of the way.
For example, the Chinese company Tencent owns shares in Epic Games, Universal Group, Warner Music Group, Spotify, Tesla, Snapchat and many others, and a large number of Apple's products are made in China.
"Listen, I don't want any government — whether it's a foreign government or the U.S. government — to spy on me," Mr. Londini said, "and if our government can actually prove that Chinese companies are spying on us, then we can make a decision, can't we? ”
The key, he added, is how you choose. "But you have deprived us of our choice. ”
▎ TikTok has at least 170 million users in the United States, mostly young people. During the bill's deliberations, young protesters gathered outside the Capitol.
Brett Jansen, the creator who shares news on TikTok, said in a recent video that she thinks TikTok allows information to flow freely, but that such software is restricted, which is suspicious.
She described the bill as "fear-mongering" and accused the government of exploiting people's ignorance about TikTok and how it works to its own advantage.
"Can someone explain it to me?" she said, "it's essentially controlling the narrative, controlling how we collect data, and controlling how we use it." ”
"My years of work will be permanently erased"
Shira, a content creator, told Business Insider last month that the ban was "a strategy to control the narrative."
"TikTok has cultivated a large community of people who discuss politics and current events without being distorted by propaganda. "A lot of us just want to know the truth." ”
Sheila said that without TikTok, she herself would not have known about "some of the injustices that are happening around the world."
"It is a valuable tool in the search for unity. She said.
Sheila also pointed out how the ban has hurt her business, as she will no longer be able to make money from the TikTok store.
She said the ban would be "devastating" for her because her years of work would be "permanently removed".
"I know I can only accept everything that happens and continue to make content on Instagram Reels or Shorts," she said, "but my development and distribution are not guaranteed because my content is made specifically for TikTok." ”
Because of this, she said, her future is quite uncertain. She originally worked with many large American companies through TikTok, and more than half of her own income came from trading with their brands.
A TikTok spokesperson told Business Insider in March that the legislation has a "predetermined consequence" of banning TikTok in the United States.
▎ Trump posted on his social media Truth Social: "Everyone knows, especially young people, that dishonest Joe Biden is responsible for the TikTok ban. ”
"The government is trying to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free speech," they said, "which will harm millions of businesses, deprive artists of their audiences, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country." ”
Ben Stanley chose TikTok when he first started working on it. He said he had been unable to secure a stable job due to mental and physical health issues, and TikTok's fan effect provided him with a flexible way to earn an income. He told Business Insider that it was TikTok's algorithm that made him so successful.
"If TikTok is banned, my business won't be able to sustain because I don't have the same followers elsewhere. "So I'm almost out of work again, which will put a huge financial strain on my health, my wife and my soon-to-be-born son." ”
He said losing TikTok was tantamount to losing his job, meaning his income would "shrink or even die."
"Losing TikTok would bring down the modern creative digital industry"
Tahrea Sherman, TikTok's pop culture content creator, said she was concerned that the government would deliberately suppress some content if TikTok was sold to an American company.
This is a concern because TikTok is already quite controversial when it comes to content moderation.
"I feel like it's doing what social media is supposed to do, which is connecting with other people and exploring new ideas," Sherman said, "and they want to change what's great about this app, and I think that's bad." ”
Catalina Goanta, an associate professor of private law and technology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told Business Insider that the congressional bill only targets social media, which she thinks is "particularly strange and incoherent" because many other businesses operating in the United States, including Temu — editor's note, have security concerns.
The bill also targets the digital creator economy, which is expected to reach $5 trillion by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, with the vast majority of the most famous creators in the United States.
According to Statista, by 2023, about 75% of the marketing spend of global social media stars will be spent on U.S. influencers.
"The loss of TikTok is a terrible blow not only to the livelihoods of creators large and small in the United States, but also to the creative digital industry as a whole," Goanta said. From an economic point of view, this is a ridiculous decision that will bring down a modern creative digital industry that is poorly understood. ”
▎ In 2023, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi has already faced fierce questions from U.S. lawmakers. He has posted videos on TikTok asking for help directly from users in the United States.
TikTok said they could file a lawsuit after the bill was signed.
"At the stage of signing the bill, we will file a legal challenge with the court. Michael Beckerman, TikTok's head of public policy for the Americas, wrote in an internal memo to employees on Saturday.
"We will continue to fight because this legislation clearly violates the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok. ”