MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
One-hundred-seventy-million Americans are on TikTok, but maybe not for much longer. The Supreme Court is set to decide whether the app will continue to be available in the U.S. or be banned in six days. To get a sense of how TikTokers are talking about this, let's bring in NPR's Bobby Allyn. Hey, Bobby.
BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: The backdrop, please - where did we stand on the TikTok ban?
ALLYN: Yeah. As you mention, it's in the hands of the Supreme Court. Last week, I went to the court for an emergency hearing on the TikTok ban. Lawyers for TikTok said shutting it down would suppress the free speech of millions, and the government said a ban must start because TikTok's China ties just make it too much of a security risk. It did appear that the majority of both liberal and conservative justices seemed quite skeptical that TikTokers' free speech should be prioritized over national security. And if the court upholds the law, Mary Louise, on Sunday, TikTok goes dark.
KELLY: On Sunday. So how are TikTokers responding to that looming deadline?
ALLYN: Yeah. They're sharing all sorts of ideas on the platform, but it's, you know, not totally clear what will work until a ban actually goes into effect. Some are plotting ways to circumvent a possible ban, like using a virtual private network, a VPN, to get around it. Others are encouraging users to change their country to Canada to try to avoid it.
Then there are TikTokers like Madi Cameron in Orlando. She's a 31-year-old content creator. She says, if Washington is so concerned with China-based apps, why haven't they acted on popular e-commerce platforms that also collect user data and - you know, and treat it the same way TikTok's being treated?
MADILYNN CAMERON: I think they're being unfairly singled out. There's apps like Shein and Temu that I promise you are probably doing just as much. And I agree with what they said in the hearing, that if you're going to hold TikTok accountable, then you need to start holding those accountable.
ALLYN: Yeah. And Madilynn Cameron, who calls herself a mommy vlogger, is telling her more than 1 million followers to use services that automatically repurpose TikToks as videos on YouTube, so that's what some are doing now.
KELLY: OK. So that's what some TikTokers are doing. What about the company itself? How is it preparing?
ALLYN: Yeah. They say they're expecting Apple and Google to remove the app from mobile stores on Sunday unless the Supreme Court steps in. TikTok is also expecting all of their web hosting services to be cut. The company, though, is stressing the impact a ban would have on the millions who use it, right? It's something that the TikToker I talked to, Madilynn Cameron, said to me, too.
CAMERON: I know to some, this app is just a silly little app where people make videos and go viral and there's dog videos or cat videos or silly dances, but there's so many jobs at risk for this ban - social media managers, social media talent agencies, marketing agencies, small businesses.
ALLYN: Yeah. Cameron says she will survive if TikTok is banned, but for some other creators on the platform, their livelihoods really depend on this. So obviously a fair amount of dread in that community right now.
KELLY: NPR's Bobby Allyn. Thanks, Bobby.
ALLYN: Thanks, Mary Louise.
(SOUNDBITE OF HERMANOS GUTIERREZ'S "BLOOD MILK MOON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
