‘It took the air out of me’: How TikTok creators reacted to the chaotic ban — and Trump’s sudden reprieve
James Rose was still livestreaming to her TikTok followers on Saturday night when the app suddenly shut down ahead of schedule.
“It kind of felt like I was a violin player on the deck of the Titanic,” the 29-year-old actress and TikTok creator, who uses she/they pronouns, tells The Independent. “A lot of us were on live, because we were like: ‘we’re going down with this ship’.”
Some users had donned ostentatious mourning garb to attend TikTok’s “funeral.” Others were still frantically downloading their favourite videos, or their own data. One prominent influencer posted a teary farewell message, saying: “I feel like I’m going through heartbreak…I cried myself to sleep last night.”
Then, at 10:38pm Eastern Time on Saturday night — more than an hour before the US law banning TikTok actually came into force — Rose’s live stream cut out. In its place was a pop-up citing the new law and expressing hope that Donald Trump would find a solution.
For Rose and many other TikTok creators, it was an emotional gut punch, wiping out years of work finding a voice, cultivating an audience, and learning how to monetize it.
Now, confusingly, TikTok is back — at least for the time being. After Trump promised to grant the app’s Chinese owners more time to find a U.S. buyer, TikTok said on Sunday morning that it had been given the “necessary clarity” to begin restoring service to its 170m U.S. users.
But with the app’s fate now resting on the caprice of a famously mercurial president — who may not even have the legal authority to save it — creators fear that there is still an axe hanging over their heads.
“Okay, we’re still here. But for how long?” says Joel Bervell, a 29-year-old recently graduated medical doctor in Portland, Oregon, who uses TikTok to debunk medical myths and educate users about racial disparities in healthcare.
“At any point, the Trump administration can take away what they seem to have given in their good graces, and I worry that they’re going to use it as bargaining chip for whatever thing he wants it to do.”
“Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now,” read the pop-up shown to users on Saturday night. “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
Shari Dyonne, a 26-year-old full-time lifestyle influencer in Atlanta, Georgia had been expecting the message. But seeing it actually happen was something else.
“It almost took all the air out of me for a second,” she tells The Independent. “Looking at my account that I’ve been building for two and a half years now, and seeing that I can’t access it and I can’t connect with my audience — I don’t even think I can put words to it.”
Sincerely Awa, a 27-year-old TikTok creator and activist based in Brooklyn, New York, was working at a wedding on Saturday night when she saw the pop-up during a break. She’d expected the company to make some deal behind the scenes to satisfy U.S. politicians, and hadn’t believed the ban would actually happen. “I was in disbelief,” she says.
