Local TikTok content creators react to update on potential ban

As the window before TikTok’s possible January ban narrows, President-elect Donald Trump recently announced he would review the online platform.

“You know, I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points,” Trump said during a Dec. 16 press conference.

At this point, it’s unclear what the president-elect could legally do if the ban were enforced.

On December 27, a “friend of the court” brief was submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the president-elect. He noted that Trump had a particular interest in the First Amendment issue and would oversee “foreign policy and national security concerns.” The memoir also describes Trump’s use of social media and his influence.

“President Trump opposes the ban on TikTok in the United States at this time and seeks to be able to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office,” the 25-page brief states.

THE Associated Press reported on December 7 that an appeals court panel rejected TikTok’s request to overturn an April law that would force the app to sever ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance, here on January 19, 2025 – the day before Trump’s presidential inauguration. Otherwise, the app could be banned in the United States.

In a statement from TikTok On Dec. 9, the social media platform said it filed a request for an emergency injunction to stay the ban until the case is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. THE Associated Press reported Dec. 13 that a federal appeals court had denied the emergency request.

In response, TikTok filed an appeal requesting an emergency hearing – stating that “Congress has enacted a massive and unprecedented restriction of speech.”

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on January 10.

Earlier last month, North Bay TikTokers spoke out about the possible ban and the impact it could have on their business.

Christian Sullberg, co-founder of Noble Folk Ice Cream and Pie Bar, began posting videos on TikTok to document his process of creating elaborate cakes.

He said that although he started posting to remember some of his favorite creations, his customers started interacting with the content and enjoying the cakes he made.

He said TikTok and other social media platforms had become a “lifeline” for communicating with his customers.

This is why he does not support a possible ban on TikTok.

“It’s another hurdle and another bureaucracy in how to be able to market and communicate directly with our customers and our local community,” Sullberg said.

Sullberg said he believed the ban would be a violation of free speech.

“At heart, I fully support TikTok,” Sullberg said. “I don’t think it’s our government’s responsibility to step in and try to censor us.”

He said the social media platform allows some people to express their creativity and, in some cases, launch their businesses.

For Darlene Schrijver – known on TikTok as @thesaladlab – she started making videos of her salads as a way to share recipes with her daughter after losing most of her paper recipes in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

Schrijver quickly went viral and now sells a cookbook, bowls and beakers that she used as props in her videos. She said she was not phased by the potential ban.

“If I worried every time they threatened to shut down TikTok, I wouldn’t be able to focus on my business,” Schrijver said.

She said it would still be difficult to lose her subscribers, but her business would continue.

“I have no control over it, put it that way. But I think eventually they will find a way to make it work,” Schrijver said.

Jacqi Bonner, owner of Mindful Media Solutions and content creator for @visitsonomacounty, said she has seen the ebb and flow of the social media industry and knows the risks of devoting herself to content creation.

“My business is totally dependent on these platforms that I have no control over and I don’t know what’s going to happen to these platforms, like if they’re going to exist in two years, five years or 10 years,” says Bonner.

Bonner said she thought it was inevitable that TikTok would change in the future, but that there was no way to predict when and how it might change. She said that if TikTok was banned, she saw it as an opportunity to come out with something new.

“I think if TikTok was banned, I know it would just be replaced by something else and everyone who was on TikTok would now come back to Instagram to create the majority of their content,” Bonner said.

Jimmy Esquivel – who goes by the name Jimmy Hits and helps run Visit Santa Rosa TikTok – was of the opinion that TikTok has flattened since its beginnings and that people are turning to long-form content.

Esquivel said businesses should promote their business online on all available platforms. He said that if the ban were enforced, he would still post on other social media pages, as he currently does with his content.

“I think if you’re not using social media in this day and age, you need to post it everywhere. It’s basically free marketing,” Esquivel said.

You can reach editor Melanie Nguyen at 707-521-5457 Or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @mellybelly119