MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The battle over social media is heading to court.
TikTok and it's parent company announced it would sue the United States for a potential ban of the app unless the platform is sold to an approved company. TikTok said the move singles out the social media site and is an attack on free speech.
Since the app launched, many people have turned to it to help make a living, whether it is an influencer or a small business.
“We were the weird kids who wore the weird clothes in high school, and we never stopped,” said J.R. Reed with Time To Waste Quality Vintage Goods.
Since then, Reed and his wife turned their passion for fashion into a business, but instead of a brick and mortar shop, the business relies on traction from sites like Whatnot, Instagram and TikTok.
“The temperature of social media, especially for online resellers, kind of controls the narrative on everything, so we have to have our finger on the temperature to know what’s going on,” Reed said.
To the Memphian, the potential ban of TikTok spells out a slippery slope for businesses like his.
“You start banning one app, what’s to stop you from banning the next one, and it’s all good until it’s your income and your specific niche that you’re into,” Reed said.
According to a study by Oxford Economics, in 2023 TikTok helped support around 4,800 small business jobs in Tennessee, and contributed to $520,000,000 toward Tennessee's Gross Domestic Product.
“You eliminate TikTok, you eliminate access to a global marketplace…It impacts the small, marginal business the most,” said John Gnuschke, a Memphis economist. Gnuschke told ABC24 as a result, those online audiences will likely flock to a new platform if TikTok becomes no more.
“They’re going to find a way to replace it, so over time there’s going to be a solution, but a lot of small businesses can’t wait….they don’t have the opportunity to sit back and wait,” said Gnuschke.
As it stands, the new U.S. law requires parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok within the next nine months. However, both entities said this will leave them no choice but to shut down by January 19.