On Friday, TikTok — an app used for sharing short videos — may become illegal if not sold to an American investor.
Bytedance, the owner of TikTok, has been threatened with an U.S. ban since April. There is concern of data leaks to China and manipulation of U.S. public opinion according to the Justice Department.
The national ban of the app will drastically change small-business marketing and engagement.
“Owning a small business is can very expensive,” Ruben Trujillo, owner of Café Emporos said. “To get reach, Tiktok is the best platform to kind of promote your brand, get brand awareness and to reach a lot of customers.”
The local coffee shop in Goodyear grew exponentially after a viral video in 2020. Trujillo credited all of his success to the app. He started with $10 coffee grams to more than $300 wedding favor orders.
Trujillo says a TikTok comment that got one thousand likes is the reason he started selling teas and wedding favors along with his coffee beans.
“TikTok isn’t just something used to make videos, it’s a really important tool for businesses to gather information and receive feedback very quickly,” said Trujillo.
Trujillo said he is bracing for a decrease in customers. He plans to continue to post on Facebook and Instagram, but doesn’t hold the same expectations for customer engagement that he did for TikTok.
“It’s going to be a little bit exhausting and a lot more work to get the same results we have on TikTok,” Trujillo said.
The U.S. Supreme Court gave the app until Jan. 19 for the app to be sold or shut down. If the ban goes through, it will no longer be available for download, updated or found on internet browsers in the United States.
He said leaving TikTok is not just leaving an app, there is an emotional attachment created among the users.
“Formed that community first, then the business came later,” Trujillo said. ”It isn’t just as easy as starting over on a new app, I think there is that emotional tie to it.”
