‘It took the air out of me’: How TikTok creators reacted to the chaotic ban — and Trump’s sudden reprieve
Share:
TikTok is back online in the US after a last-minute promise from President-elect Trump. But TikTok creators now fear he will lean on the app to serve his own interests, Io Dodds reports. James Rose was still livestreaming to her TikTok followers on Saturday night when the app suddenly shut down ahead of schedule.
![[Full-time infleuncer Shari Dyonne, 26, says she ’completely’ owes her success to TikTok.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/20/00/newFile.jpg)
"It kind of felt like I was a violin player on the deck of the Titanic," the 29-year-old actress and TikTok creator, who uses she/they pronouns, tells The Independent. "A lot of us were on live, because we were like: 'we're going down with this ship'.".
![[Joel Bervell, a 29-year-old medical doctor in Portland, Oregon, uses TikTok to debunk medical myths, but is sceptical about the app’s future.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/20/00/newFile-1.jpg)
Some users had donned ostentatious mourning garb to attend TikTok's "funeral." Others were still frantically downloading their favourite videos, or their own data. One prominent influencer posted a teary farewell message, saying: "I feel like I’m going through heartbreak...I cried myself to sleep last night.".
![[James Rose, 29, was livestreaming their farewell to the app when it suddenly went dark on Saturday night.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/20/00/newFile-2.jpg)
Then, at 10:38pm Eastern Time on Saturday night — more than an hour before the US law banning TikTok actually came into force — Rose's live stream cut out. In its place was a pop-up citing the new law and expressing hope that Donald Trump would find a solution.
For Rose and many other TikTok creators, it was an emotional gut punch, wiping out years of work finding a voice, cultivating an audience, and learning how to monetize it. "Okay, we're still here. But for how long?" says Joel Bervell, a 29-year-old recently graduated medical doctor in Portland, Oregon, who uses TikTok to debunk medical myths and educate users about racial disparities in healthcare.
