In 2019, Leon Ondieke was a student at the University of Georgia, pursuing a career in management information systems. Then one viral video changed the trajectory of his life.
Today, the metro Atlanta native has 4.5 million followers on TikTok and rakes in between $10,000 and $30,000 a month as a full-time social media influencer.
But Ondieke’s future on TikTok is now uncertain as lawmakers move closer to passing a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban.
On Wednesday, the House approved a measure that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app or stop operating in the U.S.
For years, the U.S. government has raised concerns about ByteDance’s access to the personal data of the 170 million Americans who use the video-sharing platform. This legislation aims to address those worries.
It “is a common-sense measure to protect our national security,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, one of the Republican congressmen leading the bill, said ahead of the vote.
This isn’t the first time lawmakers have attempted to shut down TikTok. In 2020, former president Donald Trump signed an executive order to prohibit the use of the app. Although he was unsuccessful, Ondieke remembers feeling anxious at the time.
“I was so scared. All I had was TikTok, so I thought I was done,” he said.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
He says TikTok is where a lot of companies bring their initial brand deals, because of its virality. He knew his income would take a hit if the ban had been implemented.
The threat of TikTok disappearing encouraged him to take advantage of other social media platforms, so he began to also post his content on YouTube and Instagram. Other TikTok influencers in Atlanta have been following the same strategy.
“I’ve always been in a place to make sure my creators had other options and that they were building on other platforms,” said Keith Dorsey, the founder of Collab Crib, a collective of Black digital influencers in Atlanta.
“If it’s viral on one platform, it could be viral on other platforms. If you can monetize it on one platform, you can monetize it on another platform.”
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Those initial conversations were tough, he says. Like Ondieke, many of Dorsey’s clients were stressed about potentially losing brand deals and other financial opportunities.
“I was managing damaged hope,” he said.
Many influencers are accustomed to an ever-changing digital landscape, so finding ways to diversify their earnings, both online and offline, has been essential to sustaining their businesses.
Kelsey Russell, who uses her TikTok to teach Gen Z how to read the newspaper, also makes money as a podcaster, public speaker and consultant for companies rethinking their strategies for communicating with younger generations.
“I want to make money as ‘Kelsey’ as my brand, not so much as ‘that girl on TikTok,’” said Russell, who is also currently enrolled in graduate school at Columbia University.
TikTokers aren’t only thinking about their business endeavors. They also rely on the app to exercise freedom of speech, cultivate community, and find important information and news.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
“TikTok is just this platform where different people with different interests come and share their thoughts. They share their opinions. They share their perspectives,” Ondieke said. “And taking that away, I think, is very unfortunate.”
While online creatives aren’t taking the government’s national security concerns lightly, many are hoping officials will find balance between protecting user data and preserving creative online spaces.
“This is a foreign-owned company that Americans are utilizing their freedom of speech on, so I think [the bill] emphasizes how our Constitution was not written in such a globalized world,” Russell said.
“I hope it will encourage people to realize how politics actually does matter, and that people that are voted in… are making decisions that affect our personal life.”
Although the House passed the bill in a 352-65 vote, it still needs to move through the Senate before reaching President Joe Biden, who says he would sign the bill into law. If that happens, ByteDance will have 180 days to sell the company or the app will be prohibited from web-hosting services and app stores, like Apple and Google.
As they await the decision from Congress and the White House, many influencers say they will continue proactively planning for life after TikTok. And while some are already speaking about the social media platform in the past tense, others admit having emotional ties to a content sharing app they could soon be forced to abandon.
“We started a content house, and TikTok was the biggest buzz of that house. It took us all over the world,” Dorsey said.
“TikTok is where I started,” Ondieke said. “If it goes away, I am going to be sad.”
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