In early 2020, Victoria Jameson was selling clothes from her closet to cover bills. The professional makeup artist saw her jobs vanish overnight during the pandemic, and her bank account dipped under $100.
Jameson, who had been trying to break into social media influencing, doubled down on TikTok, where she posted hair and makeup tutorials and random snippets of her life.
Her videos found an audience. Jameson, who lives in Dallas’ Lower Greenville area, gained tens of thousands of followers over the next year, eventually scoring partnerships with QuikTrip, L’Oréal and, most recently, Samsung.
“TikTok truly changed my life,” Jameson, 31, said. “It was the first time I felt like I could be myself on a platform without having to curate a perfect-looking life with a full face of makeup or clean house.”
As TikTok faces an uncertain fate in the U.S., Jameson and dozens of other Dallas-area content creators are pushing back against the looming ban while contemplating a future without a key piece of their business and livelihood.
Citing security threats, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill last month to force Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok. If not, the social media app will be banned. TikTok has already said it will fight the law. Roughly 30 states, including Texas, have already banned the app from government-issued devices.
Despite those concerns, TikTok has soared in popularity since its debut in 2016. An estimated 170 million Americans, nearly half the U.S. population, use the app.
TikTok has also proved lucrative for content creators, who leverage the video-sharing app to extend their reach and secure paid deals with brands and perks such as free travel. Marketing agencies have hired some as consultants.
Jameson, who has 970,000 followers on TikTok, said the platform has allowed her to go from making barely $30,000 a year to a “comfortable, six-figure salary.” She even landed a spot on The Bachelor in 2023.
Lately, she has also posted videos imploring her followers to contact their representatives to voice opposition to the ban. She accused elected leaders of fear mongering and trying to legislate something they do not understand.
“If TikTok goes away, so will a large chunk of my income,” she said. “Creators are frustrated, scared and upset that our voices don’t matter to legislators.”
Amy Jovel, 37, moved from New York City to Dallas in early 2022 and knew almost no one. As she explored Dallas, she posted TikTok videos about fashion, shopping and restaurants, soon gaining 20,000 followers and a group of close friends, who are fellow content creators.
While Jovel looks for a job in the hospitality industry, TikTok has supplied a substantial portion of her income and helped build partnerships with several brands, including Dove and Fossil. Jovel said she has watched news of the ban with growing apprehension.
“This is about business, but it’s bigger than that,” said Jovel, who recently moved to Carrollton. “I’ve built a community through TikTok. The possibility of losing all of that is scary.”
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Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content on TikTok. For example, they worry the platform could try to sway elections.
Both TikTok and opponents of the law have argued there is no proof of such claims and that a ban violates freedom of speech.
“Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said last month in a video response on X. “The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again.”
Michelle Tran, a 26-year-old content creator who posts videos about fashion, Dallas and hair and makeup, joined the app as a cash-strapped graduate student in Houston who found she could highlight local restaurants while earning free meals. Tran returned to her native Dallas in summer 2023 with plans to apply for medical school, but for now TikTok is providing a steady source of income.
If the U.S. government wants to tackle cybersecurity, Tran said, it should pass laws addressing personal data beyond one social media company.
“Facebook has our data. Businesses have our data,” said Tran, who has 30,000 followers. “Our information is in the hands of other people. Why specifically target TikTok?”
Some content creators are unconcerned by the TikTok ban. Aquia Francisco, 35, posts videos about Dallas shops and restaurants and travel on her social media platforms and for The Nudge, a service that sends members ideas for activities in their city, for which Francisco serves as the Dallas director. She has more than 38,000 followers on TikTok.
Francisco, who estimates she receives about 10% of her income through TikTok, encouraged fellow influencers to diversify their social media network and develop a website to serve as a landing page for content. She said she thinks the issue will be resolved before the platform is banned.
“I am definitely not in a panic,” she said. “Like a lot of people, I’m waiting to see how this plays out. I can’t really see TikTok disappearing.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
