While old men in poorly fitting suits argue over the legality of banning an app, the real heroes of TikTok are still cranking out content day after day.
Despite it feeling like months, it’s only been weeks since TikTok went dark for 12 hours and content creators like OnlyFans superstar Sophie Rain — who has amassed more than 10 million followers on the platform — are speaking out about it.
In agreement with other OnlyFans creators, Sophie Rain stands by the idea that it is the content creators who will save the platform in the end. While the embattled app has been around since 2016, it’s been at risk since 2020 when President Donald Trump began actively working to have the app banned. It’s hard to say whether that act led to more people joining TikTok, but between the Covid lockdowns, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the surging inflation prices, millions of people joined the app between Trump’s first presidency and his second.
Whatever the reason people joined, they stay because of the innovative and diverse content being shared on TikTok every single day. In a recent interview, Rain spoke up about the importance of creators like her and millions of others whose livelihood now hinges on TikTok.
She notes that the platform is being singled out with this ban while others like Meta are growing to the point of a near monopoly without a single word from those in power. Despite the controversy of Meta’s ties to Cambridge Analytica, Meta has yet to face anywhere near the scrutiny that TikTok has.
While the app has been given a temporary reprieve, much to the relief of Rain and other creators who admitted to freaking out during the TikTok blackout, the future of the app is uncertain.
Rain is confident the app won’t disappear forever. She belives it’s a whole lot of political grandstanding that won’t amount to much. Well, much more than some extra pocket money for some entrepreneurial individuals who are now selling phones with TikTok installed.
These phones are going for thousands of dollars because while the TikTok ban lasted less than a day, both Apple and Google pulled the app from their marketplaces. That means that if you delete the app from your phone, you can’t get it back. While Rain understands the value of TikTok, she expressed annoyance at the idea that people are making so much money from these marked-up phone sales simply because the app isn’t available at the moment.
The future of TikTok remains uncertain while policymakers in Washington DC continue to use it as a pawn in their scheming and politicking. But that isn’t stopping content creators like Rain. Despite the uncertainty, she is passionate about creating content for her audience day after day. The persistence of creators like her is why TikTok’s future is brighter than many talking heads seem to think.
Because at the end of the day, people want to be entertained. And policymakers would be wise to keep that in mind as they decide the fate of TikTok.