Anxious about a looming TikTok ban, some American creators look to other platforms

“TikTok has so much culture that’s so specific to the app, because there are certain videos that will go insanely viral and then that will become, like, the next inside joke,” Hon said.

Some creators, like Taylor Pare, argue that if a ban does go into effect, creators whose income came primarily from TikTok should be entitled to unemployment benefits. The app accounts for roughly 90% to 95% of her income, she said.

“Perhaps if you’re making millions of dollars you’re probably set, but I think there’s people that really rely on this and they’ve made this their job,” said Pare, a full-time TikTok creator who has built an audience of more than 90,000 followers talking about dating in New York City. “And if the government feels that we’re not allowed to have this, I feel like there needs to be some compensation or stimulus financially.”

There has also been early buzz around possible replacements for TikTok. Some creators and users have mentioned several emerging apps — such as Clapper and a yet-to-launch app called Neptune — as options.

Though Neptune has been in the works only since May, its CEO, Ashley Darling, said the sudden “mass panic and hysteria” over TikTok’s looming ban injected so much user interest in the new app that her team is pushing up its release date to next spring, with beta testing to begin as early as January.

Mason, of Pearpop, said that “the creator economy rewards versatile talent.”

“The TikTok ban, should it go into effect, will only be the latest in a long history of reinvention by creators and digital marketers,” he said, adding later in his email that “before the rise of TikTok, we saw the rise and fall of Dubsmash, Vine, and countless other platforms, without any U.S. regulatory action. The same community that weathers sudden algorithm changes, the switch from long-form to short-form video, and a trend cycle that transforms by the minute can navigate a TikTok ban.”

Still, some, like Hon, are skeptical of any TikTok copycats.

“I think, if anything, people will just migrate to apps that are already established and have that notoriety,” she said.

Because a ban would primarily affect American TikTok users, the only people who’d have incentives to join a new app would be Americans, Hon said, with the possible addition of non-American users who hope to re-follow their favorite creators there.

Others, like Ficarra, anticipate the challenges they’d have shifting gears — but said they feel it would open up fresh opportunities for smaller creators.

“I’m not afraid of the hard work that it’s going to take, because I obviously did that with my business,” Ficarra said. “And I think there’s something exciting about a new platform coming along.”

For Miller, joining a new app would feel like déjà vu of the years before TikTok, when other platforms like Vine were the go-tos.

“We all moved to TikTok. We all moved to YouTube. We all moved to Instagram. … I joined BlueSky, which is kind of slowly replacing Twitter, maybe,” Miller said. “So if the right platform comes around, why not?”