When Daven Gates first started creating videos for TikTok in April of 2021, he says he "was going through a bit of depression." He needed something to create motivation -- so, when he cooked meals with his young son, he started filming and posting short videos.
Within four months, the Stafford, Virginia, resident told News4 he had gained over a million followers.
Three years later, Gates has built an online community through his account, @OneStopChop. He posts videos of nutritious meals, has published his own cookbook, makes money from brand deals with brands he used anyway and tries to support others who are struggling with their mental health as he once did.
Now he says he's facing the possibility it all could disappear overnight if TikTok is banned in the United States this Sunday.
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The short-form video app was launched in the U.S. in 2018 and became hugely popular in 2020 among U.S. users who spent more time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The endless-scrolling design of the app, along with an algorithm that adjusts new videos based on the viewer's interests, makes it deeply engaging.
Trends launched on the app have skyrocketed profits for some companies, launched musical careers and changed politics. They've sparked national debates and helped dreams come true for small business owners.
As of January 2025, TikTok has roughly 170 million users. That's more than a third of all people living in the U.S., according to Census Bureau estimates.
But now that a law passed by Congress last April has been unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court, TikTok's owner ByteDance -- a Chinese company -- must sell the app to an American owner. If it doesn't, the app will be banned in the U.S. on Jan. 19, 2025.
It's a day users like Gates are facing down with unease.
When Gates started making videos, the Army servicemember was in the middle of recovering from surgery on both of his legs, and desperately needed something to pass the time.
"I was trying to figure out what I could do to ... give me purpose again," he said.
That turned into a creative outlet, an online community and a built-in clientele for his business endeavors.
"If TikTok were to get banned, it would drastically affect my life," Gates said. "TikTok is my largest platform. I have about 2.7 million followers on TikTok. So [it's] my largest community for sure, and one of my most supportive communities."
The followers Gates has on the app are unlike those he has on any other platform he uses, he says. People on TikTok want to support him and loyally watch and come back to his videos when they see he's posted something new. If he creates a product, they buy it. If he holds an event, they show up.
The app connects him with others -- and provides a steady stream of money. Gates estimates 65 to 70% of his current income is from TikTok, either through video performance, brand deals or people who become loyal subscribers on other platforms.
After three years of work to build that system up, its sudden disappearance would cost him.
"I get people telling me every day, we're not on Instagram, we're not on Facebook. We're on TikTok for you," Gates said. "So, if the TikTok ban were to go through, I would lose all of those people."
There are two ways the TikTok ban could go, and it's unclear at this point which path TikTok will go down.
One option is a slow death. With a ban in place, the Apple App Store and the Google Play library would face hefty fines for continuing to allow Americans to download TikTok and would likely remove TikTok from its offerings on the day of the deadline.
Those who have already downloaded the TikTok app would continue to have it on their devices, and could still post videos to the app. However, without new downloads or the ability to push out regular maintenance updates from app stores, the app would slowly degrade.
Facing more and more bugs and issues, the user base for TikTok would erode over time, until it quietly disappears.
Until Wednesday morning, it seemed the slow death was the path TikTok would choose. But as Reuters reported, it seems the company will choose the other option: an instant switch-off.
Under that second option, the app would essentially go dark. Though it would likely remain on users' phones, those opening the app would see a pop-up directing them to a webpage with information about the ban, not their normal video feed, Reuters reported.
"I've put other systems in place to make sure that at least the rent can get paid, but as far as my business, [it's] breaking down, because the largest group of support will now have nowhere to go to come support me," Gates said. "They won't know where to find me to watch me, unless they go to another social media platform. And a lot of people love TikTok for what it is."
Gates is one of many creators who found unexpected success, economic bounty, community and purpose in the app. Another is Amaya Monét, also known as @uuhmaya -- a New York-based, DMV-native vlogger and lifestyle influencer with 1.3 million followers.
"I pretty much do anything I feel like doing on TikTok," Monét said. "Beauty, hair, makeup, being a silly goofy girl, talking about my life."
She started posting her videos, all conversational and fun with a fast-paced, internet-reference-heavy editing style, in 2020 during the pandemic.
Like Gates, Monét began creating videos as something to do.
"I couldn't see anybody, couldn't hang out with anybody, because we were all quarantined," she told News4. But she quickly gained a following.
For the past year, Monét said, TikTok has been her main source of income.
"This is taking up 100% of my income, which is a blessing in itself," she said. "Like, I never imagined that I could quit my full-time job, which I hated, and do something I love ... And then, once I got an offer that paid me more than the money I was making at my full-time job, I said, 'Oh, you know what? I can do this.'"
The gamble paid off, giving her enough money to have savings for the first time "in my 25 years of living," Monét said.
It's a unique irony.
"Nothing has ever gave me enough money to the point where I can actually have money to the side for emergencies," she said. "So, even though the TikTok ban is like ... it's coming up, and I'm stressed about losing my full-time job, at least I have some savings to rely on, which is the first time in my life I've ever had a savings."
But for both Monét and Gates, the loss of income is only one part of the frustration. The loss of the communities they've built is another.
"The way TikTok always invites conversation towards everything, it has educated me on so many things I did not know about, and so many perspectives I never would have thought about," Monét said.
"Because I feel like on Instagram, they really don't invite conversation like that. On YouTube, it's kind of one-sided in a way. I don't even want to talk about X," she said. "But I feel like on TikTok, people are more understanding towards other sides, and seeing other sides, but also giving their perspective and hoping people see where they're coming from."
The way that TikTok's algorithm surfaces videos means users can end up exposed to corners of the internet they wouldn't otherwise explore. It has drawbacks, but for many users, the benefit is new access to other people.
Often when users find a new creator they like, they end up sticking around, even if they wouldn't have sought out that creator on their own.
"The virality of TikTok really helps you expand your community at a very fast pace, for good," Gates said.
His cooking videos started with a predictable audience of "maybe middle-aged women ... because my support system is made of 90% women," but then expanded to "men who either look like me, sound like me, or may be be going through the same things as me."
Gates sees it as an equal opportunity to connect and create a broad audience -- one that other apps, at this point, don't provide, focusing instead on specific age groups.
"TikTok is for everyone," Gates said.
Monét agreed, saying YouTube and Instagram tend to silo their users in a way she feels TikTok doesn't.
"It could be casual on TikTok, you can do professional videos on TikTok, you can promote your business on TikTok," she said. "Everything has a place on TikTok."
That includes politics, which is how talk of a ban began in 2020.
What's behind a TikTok ban in the first place?
During the 2020 presidential campaign, users on TikTok banded together, claiming to have manipulated turnout at one of then-President Donald Trump's rallies. An incensed Trump then tried to ban the app or force a sale via executive order, a move struck down in court.
But Trump's use of national security as rationale for a ban stuck and became bipartisan, with U.S. senators and members of Congress from both parties favoring a ban as of this year.
One of those politicians, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, said he believes TikTok is a national security risk.
"I think there is a lot of great creativity on TikTok," he said in a video statement shared with News4 on Jan. 10. "I also know people make their living as social influencers, I think that’s great. But I’ve been concerned, literally for years, that because TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese firm, and every company — based upon Chinese law — has to be first and foremost loyal to the Communist Party of China, not to their shareholders or customers, that TikTok has posed a national security concern."
"At the end of the day, I hope [the Supreme Court's decision] will force a transaction and that people can still enjoy TikTok, but that we can also get rid of this national security issue," Warner continued.
TikTok users like Gates and Monét say they don't feel their security is any more at risk on TikTok than it is with other social media platforms or foreign-owned companies.
"We've already learned about plenty of breaches in other organizations, of our private information," Gates said. "And I'm not saying that it's OK, I'm not saying it's justified, I'm just saying, with me personally, I wholeheartedly don't believe that my information is any less safe on TikTok than it is anywhere else, with the banks I use or anything like that."
As recently as Dec. 30, organizations as large as the U.S. Treasury have been hacked by Chinese "threat actors."
Other social media platforms have acknowledged giving American data to foreign entities. The most notable example was in 2018, when Meta admitted to giving developers in China access to American users' data.
Some TikTok creators staring down the loss of their income see the ban of one platform and not others as a double-standard.
"It really makes no sense to me how they're trying to take away something that helps so many people," Monét said.
Those who favor a ban for national security reasons, she says, should consider some other brands they may not have questioned.
"So let's say you use Shein. Shein's a Chinese company," Monét said. "Temu is a Chinese company. There's a brand, DJI, they have these really popular cameras and these mics and stuff -- that's a Chinese company that's literally electronics. So if you're really afraid of national security, you're still using those brands ... It's like, are you really afraid of China? Are you really afraid of national security?"
Some politicians have spoken out against the ban of TikTok, including at least one from the DMV.
Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia released a statement last March against the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, saying he was "deeply wary of any effort that has the effect of censoring free speech or expression."
"Be it books or apps, I err staunchly on the side of caution when it comes to government-mandated bans on any kind of information sharing," Connolly said. He was unable to attend the vote on the law in April.
Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Rep. Ro Khanna of California introduced another law, the "Extend the TikTok Deadline Act," that would push the Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell the app forward by 270 days.
"A ban on TikTok violates the free speech of 170 million Americans and hurts the livelihoods of creators and small business owners who use the app," Khanna said in a release about the legislation on his website. "We need laws to protect Americans’ data, but banning TikTok is not the answer. I’m proud to join Senator Markey in introducing this legislation to pause the TikTok ban for 270 days."
The bill, introduced on Tuesday, Jan. 14, has not come to the floor of either chamber of Congress.
Trump has, since 2020, changed his stance on a TikTok ban, calling for the Supreme Court to temporarily block the law so that when he takes office, he can “pursue a political resolution” to the dispute, according to NBC News. He filed a brief asking as such when the Supreme Court heard arguments on Jan. 10.
The Supreme Court's decision upholding the ban came down on Friday morning. The unsigned, per curium (unanimous) order came with concurring opinions from Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch.
The court has the authority to temporarily block the law forcing a sale or ban, but did not.
From the justices' questions during argument, it appeared likely the law would be upheld.
The Biden administration signaled on Friday that it won't enforce the law beginning Sunday, Biden's final full day in office. That punts action to President-elect Trump.
It’s unclear what options are open to Trump once he is sworn in as president on Monday. The law allows for a 90-day pause in the restrictions on the app if there had been progress toward a sale before it took effect, but it's uncertain whether the prospect of a sale once the law is in effect could trigger a 90-day respite for TikTok.
With so many unknowns and a growing sense that TikTok's end is nigh, Gates and Monét are each trying to figure out their next moves.
"I've already tried to put some systems in place as far as, you know, using my website to funnel people in, and, you know, use a mailing system to use my email to reach out to my people and correspond with my people," Gates said. "[There are] other social media platforms I've already told them that they can follow me on."
But without TikTok, reaching out to his people is harder, and that's hard on a personal level as well as a professional one.
"Just me getting on TikTok and telling people about, you know, mental health challenges and things of that nature, to see the TikTok ban go through, you don't even know what that could do to those people," Gates said.
With 170 million users waiting to see what happens, the ripple effects of whatever comes next will be felt widely.
"It brings a lot of people joy and it distracts them from the horrors of the world," Monét said. "I feel like taking away that place for a lot of people is unfair. And quite mean."
For Monét, a possible ban is so unprecedented it's still a shock.
"I'm still in the delusional phase of thinking, hey, like, there's no way," she said. "Like don't, don't ban this app. I am working on my resume. I'm trying to stay in the creative field, so I'm thinking maybe social media management on the other platforms ... something."