UK TikTokers say goodbye to US followers as ban looms: ‘It’s a really beautiful community’ | Technology

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*** TikTokers say goodbye to US followers as ban looms: ‘It’s a really beautiful community’ | Technology

If TikTok disappears from the US, it won’t just be its 170 million American users who will lose out.

British TikTokers and business owners have told the Guardian they will also lose a sizeable chunk of their audiences after a ban. The video app has become a key gateway to Americans for the ***’s online video creators, who make a living from accruing views and making sponsored content deals. With the ban scheduled to take effect on Sunday, a US-sized hole will appear in the global userbase.

“In English-speaking markets, a lot of creators have sizeable US audiences that follow them,” says Thomas Walters, chief executive of Billion Dollar Boy, a ***-based advertising agency that pairs blue-chip advertisers with creators and influencers. A ban would be “really sad” for creators who have “built audiences from nothing” on TikTok, he adds.

The Guardian spoke to several ***-based creators and one entrepreneur who all say they will be affected by a ban.

Jay Beech, 30, London

Users in the US account for nearly half of

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on TikTok. He says there is a strong relationship between creators and users on both sides of the Atlantic, a form of digital cultural exchange that millions of Brits and Americans will miss.

“It’s going to be a big difference for all of us, to see that gap in our feeds,” he says.

Beech, who describes his posts as “high-energy fashion content”, says sponsored content – from brands such as the US skincare line Kiehl’s and Sky TV – provides the majority of his income. He also has a presence on

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but says he has noticed that TikTok users “don’t necessarily follow you elsewhere”.

“[A ban] will throw people out into this diaspora of trying to find their favourite creators again and finding a new home on whatever platform they choose,” he said.

Fats Timbo, 28, Kent

Fats Timbo is a comedian and podcaster. Photograph: Fats Timbo

Fats is a comedian and disability activist who posts comedy, beauty and lifestyle content to her

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. She says the platform’s US reach – approximately a quarter of her following – has been vital for her work.

“TikTok is crucial for my career because it allows me to connect with a US audience, where representation of people like me – ****** women with dwarfism – is often lacking,” she says.

Timbo adds that the US offers creators like her a chance to “grow, collaborate, and be seen on a global stage”.

“It’s not just about numbers. It’s about the impact I can have and the representation I can provide for people who rarely see someone like themselves in media. Losing that connection would feel like losing a part of my purpose,” she says.

Timbo says her US audience is “key for securing brand deals, collaborations, and visibility on a global scale”. Losing TikTok in the US would be a “significant setback” but she is also creating content on

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to maintain her connection with her US followers.

Em Wallbank, 25, west Yorkshire

US viewers represent about 40% of Em Wallbank’s audience. The west Yorkshire-based creator says her comedy skits have been a hit across the Atlantic partly due to her accent. Wallbank, who is best known for posts riffing on Harry Potter characters,

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.

“I think some of my popularity is because I am northern and my accent is a bit of a novelty [to US users],” she says.

Wallbank, who started posting skits on TikTok in 2022, says the US social media market is a testing ground for a creator’s ability to build a broad career, like the Kardashians and Nicole Richie.

“The ones that are having careers outside of social media, it is because they have attracted the attention of US audiences,” she said.

Wallbank’s US popularity has resulted in her working at fan conventions in the US as well as creating sponsored content with multinationals like Disney+ in the ***. She is concerned for would-be creators who could use TikTok, and its US audience, to access a creative career that might otherwise have been out of reach.

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“To be able to get into a creative industry, with my background, is massive,” she says.

Sarah Yuma, 30, London

Yuma says a US TikTok audience has been crucial to the growth of her business, selling home and hair accessories using African fabrics.

“It can be tricky building a business just relying on *** audiences. During lockdown it was the US audience that pushed my business and took it to the next level,” she says.

Yuma, who has more than

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, says she had an influx of US customers and followers amid a surge in popularity for the ****** Lives Matter movement in 2020.

Sarah Yuma, who sells handmade products using fabrics from Africa, at home, in London, on Thursday. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

TikTok disappearing from the US would mean “I would lose a huge chunk of my community,” says Yuma. “They have helped me with my designs. It’s a really beautiful community that I have created.”

If TikTok is switched off in the US, she adds, she will need to rethink how she connects with an American audience.

“I will have to rethink my strategy about how to keep them in my community and staying in contact with them,” she says. “ I don’t want to isolate them. They are really important to my business.”

Sam Cornforth, 29, London

Cornforth posts

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to his 460,000 followers, with the US accounting for approximately a quarter of that total. He says his income from sponsored content will be protected by the fact that he works with ***-based brands like Argos.

However, he says brands could react negatively to creators losing a sizable chunk of their audience.

“Brands do pay attention to your total reach. If, potentially, 20% to 30% of that is cut, will that affect your future opportunities with those brands?” he asked.

Cornforth adds that TikTok’s US audience is important for establishing trends that filter across other platforms. Without that influence, creators could lose an impetus and inspiration for their work.

“It’s the birthplace for trends, and then they filter down to

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at a later date,” he says.

This article was amended on 17 January 2025. Em Wallbank is based in west Yorkshire, not south Yorkshire as a previous version said.

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