“I could lose up to 5,000 euros per month”: influencers are alarmed by a possible ban on TikTok in the United States

“In my life, I have never seen Republicans and Democrats agree…until this weekend.” On the other end of the line, the American Amanda Rollins has a bitter tone. On Saturday, while she was at a concert, she learned of the adoption in the United States, by the House of Representatives, of a text opening the door to a possible ban on TikTok. More precisely, its parent company ByteDance, based in China, would be forced to sell the social network within twelve months, under penalty of having to cease operating in the United States. TikTok is suspected of allowing Beijing to collect data on the approximately 170 million American users who follow its content. The text must now be validated by the Senate within the week.

On her americanfille account, followed by more than 1 million people, Amanda Rollins did not wait to react. “Me, discovering in the middle of a concert that TikTok is about to be banned. I was trying to stay positive and laugh at this idea but it just makes me sad because TikTok means a lot to me,” she wrote with tears in her eyes, her glass of wine still in her hand. “I can’t imagine a world without TikTok. This application has changed my life, I have my community there and I discovered more things on this application than at school,” testifies the young woman to Le Figaro.

“They say that the social network represents a risk for our security but that’s a lie!”, she continues, angrily. “We know very well that Meta’s social networks (Facebook, Instagram) also collect our data. However, they will never be banned.” For the content creator, American political representatives would rather put an end to the militant actions which often gain momentum via TikTok.

Amanda Rollins thinks in particular of the actions of pro-Palestinian users. Most aim to denounce brands which continue their activity in Israel despite the offensive led by the country on the Gaza Strip, since the Hamas terrorist attack on its territory on October 7. “We can clearly see that the boycotts against the Starbucks, McDonalds or Kellogs brands essentially started from TikTok,” insists the content creator. “I think they are especially afraid of this power of mobilization on the platform and the freedom of expression that is allowed on it.”

Like her, many American influencers are reacting to the possible ban on the Chinese social network with the hashtag Tiktok ban. “All that worries politicians is whether they are re-elected. So, I call on each creator on TikTok to make a video about a senator and to share his email and you (the users Editor's note), to write to them to demystify their opinion on TikTok [...]", insists the one of the videographers. Already last March, American TikTokers demonstrated in front of Congress to contest legislative work aimed at banning the application. The CEO of TikTok himself, Shou Zi Chew, had called on users to “make themselves heard” against this possible ban.

Although she cannot participate, Amanda Rollins supports these protests. The American has been living in Paris for several years where she recounts her wanderings in the French capital on TikTok, like the heroine of the successful Netflix series Emily in Paris, who arrives straight from Chicago in season 1. With her account, Amanda mainly makes Americans, who make up 70% of her subscribers, dream. A large part of its community could therefore disappear if the social network were to be banned in the United States.

“I’m afraid of losing my business,” she admits. Now aged 34, the young woman created an account, like many others, during confinement in 2020. At the time, she was training in sales techniques in start-ups but quickly Online activity takes over. “TikTok today represents 70% of my salary and just with the income from the platform, I can make between 4,000 and 5,000 euros per month,” she explains. “This remuneration does not concern commercial collaborations.”

The young woman also has an Instagram account but which is much less followed. Compared to his TikTok account (1 million subscribers), this has a total of 173,000 followers. “Instagram remains different, trends do not move as quickly,” underlines the content creator. “On TikTok, overnight your content and your words can go viral,” enthuses the videographer, who refers to the formidable TikTok algorithm and its “for you” feed. In it, the user is presented with disparate and very different content to evaluate what interests him. It also makes it possible to bring visibility to the lives of millions of people who were previously unknown. Amanda Rollins knows this, she has been experiencing it for four years.