TikTok content creators who make a living promoting their businesses and personal brands on the app were afraid Sunday that they would have to find new ways to engage consumers and make money as the app's future in the United States remained uncertain.
TikTok told U.S. users that it was beginning to restore service just hours after the went dark in response to , which President-elect Donald Trump said he would try to pause by executive order on his first day in office.
Some users reported Sunday that the app was working again, but it remained unavailable for download in Apple and Google鈥檚 app stores. Others remained locked out of accessing their profiles and the communities they had built online.
Here's how content creators are reacting:
Esthetician mourns her online community
On a typical morning, esthetician and social media personality Lee Zavorskas scrolls on TikTok while she sips coffee. Sunday morning was different 鈥� she scribbled a to-do list instead, which included playing with her cats and dog and plotting how to bolster her presence on other platforms like YouTube since TikTok went dark for her Saturday night.
鈥淚鈥檓 a 58-year-old content creator that found a seat at the table that鈥檚 not available on Instagram,鈥� Zavorskas said.
While Zavorskas has more followers on Instagram, she found a large crowd of people over the age of 40 on TikTok, making it easier to build her audience. She held out some hope that she would be able to return to the community she found on the app.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like going to your favorite restaurant and ordering your favorite food, and they鈥檙e like, 鈥榊ou know what? We took it away,鈥欌�� she said.
Small business owner fears for the future
Tiffany Cianci, a Maryland-based content creator who owns small businesses, stopped posting on Twitter and Instagram and cut her advertising with Meta and Google out of frustration.
鈥淚t鈥檚 TikTok or nothing for me,鈥� she said.
She thinks lawmakers unfairly punished TikTok for succeeding alongside its profitable competitors. And they played 鈥減olitical football鈥� with an app that millions of small businesses rely on to survive, she said.
鈥淚 spoke to small businesses in the last three days that have sobbed on my livestreams, afraid they鈥檒l have to lay their employees off tomorrow morning,鈥� Cianci said. 鈥淭hey are so afraid because they have other people鈥檚 lives in their hands.鈥�
Beauty creator shifts to YouTube
Tiffany Watson, a 20-year-old beauty content creator, had been making videos since the days of , and was just starting to figure out the kind of content she was passionate about when TikTok went dark.
鈥淭he community on TikTok is like nothing else, so it鈥檚 weird to not have that anymore,鈥� she said.
With spare time on her hands, Watson plans to focus on bolstering her presence on Instagram and YouTube. She also wants to devote more time to school as the psychology major and criminal justice minor prepares to graduate from Wingate University in North Carolina and enter 鈥渢he real world." But being a content creator remains her 鈥渕ain dream," she said.
If Trump lifts the ban, Watson plans to return to TikTok, but said she will 鈥減robably be more tuned into my YouTube since this ban has kinda spooked me.鈥�
The Associated Press
