New York small business owner: Don’t mess with TikTok

President Joe Biden signed a bill last week that could lead to a ban of TikTok nationwide.

While the potential of a TikTok ban is still a little way’s away, small business owners are concerned that banning the app could negatively impact their businesses.

A huge part of Joe Amato, founder of VIVO Creative, and his team’s daily tasks are to assist about 15 small business owners with making TikToks.

“TikTok changed the way that the internet worked, specifically for small businesses, I think,” Amato said. “TikTok came in and said, ‘hey, everybody’s able to create. Everybody’s able to build an audience.’ And we took advantage of that, and our clients took advantage of that.”

Amato said he realized TikTok would become an asset for small businesses back in 2020. He began creating videos to promote his own personal brand and bring his company, which helps small businesses gain audiences through social media, more exposure.

He said VIVO Creative produces about 150 to 200 TikToks for clients each month.

“TikTok being one that has a lot of attention, is a big opportunity for businesses to build an audience very quickly, to get people that they didn’t, to get people that they weren’t reaching before, to get in front of millions of new people potentially and for free,” Amato said.

Biden signed a bill recently passed by Congress that requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell TikTok, or U.S. TikTok users could be cut off from the platform.

This is concerning to Amato, for both himself and his clients.

“I think this ban is insane. I think it’s insane. I think it’s just another way for our government to get their hands into what we see, think and hear. TikTok is a platform that is free speech, and anybody that I know that uses it regularly feels the exact same way that I do,” Amato said.

U.S. lawmakers are worried TikTok’s ties with China pose a possible threat to national security. 

In a video posted on X shortly after the bill was signed, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said the company plans to put up a fight in court.

“It’s obviously a disappointing moment, but it does not need to be a defining one,” Chew said. “TikTok gives everyday Americans a powerful way to be seen and heard, and that’s why so many people have made TikTok part of their daily lives.”

Amato said his ultimate goal is to help his clients reach customers.

“If TikTok didn’t change the way that social media is viewed and used, we would not be doing things the way, we’re doing them today. I don’t know where we would be today, to be honest with you,” Amato said.

Under the newly signed bill, TikTok’s parent company, Byte Dance, has until mid-January of next year to sell TikTok. If it is not sold, or the law is not reversed in court, that’s when there’s a chance of users around the country being impacted.

TikTok’s CEO said 170 million users and 7 million business owners utilize the platform.