TikTok has become a social media staple, but maybe not for much longer here in the U.S. Now, local TikTok users are coming to terms with a new reality: the app may no longer be available to use every day.
The law now requires the platform be sold to a U.S.-based company or be shut down by January 19.
Alden Phillips, a resident of San Luis Obispo, has used TikTok as a source of income since 2018. With just under 230,000 followers, he says some months he receives up to $4,000.
"It's helped to pay the bills, especially Tiktok Shop," the 20-year-old influencer said. "It's helped with rent, actually. So with TikTok potentially leaving, you know, it could affect that."
Promoting clothing and other items for sale from the TikTok Shop is a source of revenue for many of the platform's users.
“Unlike Amazon, you can have a visual video of someone using the product, someone reviewing it all real-time so you know exactly what it's like," Phillips added.
Atascadero High School tennis player Rylee Halsey says the app gives users an opportunity to share things going on in their lives.
"It's a really big source of entertainment for a lot of people," Halsey said. "I think a lot of people are at the point where they don't really know what they would do, you know?”
The U.S. Supreme Court has said it won't block the law that will ban the app in the United States.
“People who have used it like for this long and still continue using it, it's just going to be really sad," the college-bound tennis player said. "[It's] something that we've always had and then like now it's going to go away.”
“There's always going to be other platforms," Phillips said. "There's always been another platform. Instagram Reels — I really enjoy.”
