Students ticked off by TikTok ban
New legislation signed by Florida’s governor formalizes a step already taken by the Board of Governors. But many students say they use the controversial app for content creation — and even income generation.
By Laurie Mermet
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation May 9 that bans TikTok on government-issued devices and the networks that serve them across the state through a “digital bill of rights” for Floridians.
TikTok, a video sharing social media app, is owned and operated by the company ByteDance headquartered in Beijing, China. Concerns that the Chinese government could potentially order ByteDance to hand over the data it collects from its users has led to the push for its ban.
In the latest efforts to keep the controversial platform out of the state, Florida’s Board of Governors banned its use on all campus WiFi networks and university-owned devices in April.
While many Chinese apps have failed to succeed outside of China, TikTok managed to push itself into the overseas market through the acquisition of Musical.ly in 2017. Originally launched as a short-form video sharing platform, primarily for lip syncing and dancing videos, TikTok has grown into a fully-fledged video service, with content available for all types of viewers. TikTok had 1.2 billion monthly active users towards the end of 2021 and is expected to reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2022, according to Statista.
Florida Atlantic University is among the 12 state universities in Florida that has now banned TikTok from their campus, WiFi networks and university-owned devices to comply with the new emergency amendment passed last week.
The other universities that make up the 12-member State University system also include the University of Florida, Florida State University and Florida International University.
TikTok snowballed into the most popular app in 2019 and 2020. It was downloaded 693 million times in 2019 and 850 million times in 2020. Even though it only launched in 2017, TikTok was the seventh-most downloaded app of the 2010s.
According to Exploding Topics, the U.S. has the largest TikTok audience of over 135 million, and the largest proportion (52.8%) OF TikTok users are young adults aged 18–24.
A Media Prefs survey of about 62,000 college students across 37 states showed that TikTok was the fourth most popular social media platform this academic year, outranking Twitter and Snapchat.
FAU freshman Chloe Bowe, 19, expressed her opinion on the unprecedented ban.
“Most things on the internet are taking our information one way or another,” Bowe said. “The ban is especially unfair to those who are using [TikTok] as a form of income, so the government and schools shouldn’t be preventing people from being able to provide for themselves.”
Besides brand deals, TikTok users can also get paid directly by the platform. The app pays influencers directly through its Creator Fund and Pulse, its ad-revenue-sharing program. According to the platform themselves, the purpose of the Creator Fund is to reward users for their creativity.
Part of the fund’s initial mission was to provide creators means to “earn livelihoods” and spark careers through TikTok, and it is reserved for creators with significant audiences and strong engagement. To be selected for the fund’s compensation, users must meet specific criteria, including having a minimum of 10,000 followers and 100,000 views on their videos within the last 30 days, being at least 18 years old and adhering to the platform’s community guidelines.
Emerson Rosenberg, FAU freshman and content creator, joined the Creator Fund in early March of 2023 and has made $173 so far for her content on the app.
“I think the new TikTok ban is a gross misuse of power, and it inflicts upon our First Amendment rights to free speech,” Rosenberg said. “It is very detrimental to students who make income off of the app.”
FAU junior and comedian Emmanuel Carre, 23, recently reached 1.7 million followers on the app and is now concerned for the future development of his career.
“With this new ban happening, I’m glad my Instagram platform is growing, but it’s way more difficult to get the same attention on there than on TikTok,” Carre said.
Carre is known for his humorous videos on TikTok, and also participates in monthly stand-up comedy shows. He joined the TikTok community in 2021 but has been making videos since he was 13 years old. This is Carre’s third year in America from France.
“Making videos at a young age was my main way of expressing myself and showing people who I was, since I didn’t talk much to people because I was getting bullied in school,” Carre said. “Making videos was my escape.”
Carre started making a profit from his TikTok videos when he reached 100k followers.
“I don’t necessarily make videos to make money, I do it because I purely love it,” said Carre. “But the profit is very helpful especially when it comes to paying for my rent and tuition.”
“TikTok has impacted my life in an amazing way,” Carre said.
