On Friday night, President Donald Trump announced he would ban the short-form video app, whose parent company, ByteDance, is based in China.
“As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.
The popular app that has 100 million users in the U.S. has proved especially vital to many during the coronavirus pandemic as a source of entertainment, community and education, a half-dozen users told NBC News in interviews Saturday.
They said TikTok has helped them both unplug from the harsh realities of the world and plug into communities that make them feel connected.
Some said that if Trump does ban the app, it could motivate many young TikTokers to vote against the president in the November election.
“If it hasn’t already, I think this will definitely be a game-changer in young voters going out and voting for sure,” Kaylyn Elkins, 18, of Washington state, said.
TikTok has recently been scrutinized in the United States because of its China-based owner. Chinese law can compel any domestic company to hand over data it has collected on users.
Like scores of other apps, TikTok tracks phone locations and users’ metadata, and China has demonstrated an appetite for Americans’ personal data.
TikTok has repeatedly said that it is not influenced by China’s demands and that it is an independent company. Still, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recently indicated that China views TikTok as a domestic company.
But many TikTokers have said they’re unbothered by the app’s connection to China and feel that if it was owned by a company based elsewhere, Trump wouldn’t be taking this kind of action.
“I think it’s just ridiculous considering what’s going on in the world and our country alone,” Elkins said. “I think if it was owned by a European country he wouldn’t even consider this idea.”
Trump’s announcement sent ripples through the TikTok community, with major influencers on the platform logging on to urge their followers to find them on other social media, like the streaming platform Twitch or the Facebook-owned Instagram.
“I’ve never seen that many people talking about one thing on the app for so long. I feel like the app has so many avenues, like there’s so many different things you could do on TikTok, the fact that everybody was focused on it being taken away was really interesting to me,” said Clara McCourt, 18, of New Jersey.
For some users like Nyx, the app has been a lifeline. She said she would be devastated if she no longer had the platform.
The community aspect is one reason young adults are so desperate to keep TikTok around.
For Nyx, the body-positivity community on the app has helped her reach 400,000 followers on the platform and connect with other content creators. She said she gets messages every day from women who say her presence and content has changed their lives for the better.
“Helping other people helps me feel amazing about myself,” she said. “I was heartbroken [hearing about Trump’s ban]. I couldn’t imagine losing this community that I’ve spent months building. I couldn’t imagine that. If I did lose this community I don’t know what I would do with myself.”