TikTok creators go from sadness and fear to ... 'whatever!' over app's future

TikTok creators in the United States have been on an emotional rollercoaster over the past few months. President Trump's decision on Friday to extend the sale of the platform for another 75 days will likely keep those who depend on it for their livelihoods in a state of limbo for a while longer.

The thought of a TikTok ban in the U.S. under a federal law passed in April 2024 that stated the app would have to go unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sold its U.S. operations brought on strong emotions among many creators back in January.

"It feels like I am losing a really good friend," creator Emily Senn said in a teary video posted on Jan. 15. "And that sucks."

Then, after the platform went dark for a few hours on Jan. 18 when the ban took effect and then flickered back to life, the feelings of woe and fear transformed into widespread confusion and anger. Suddenly, the algorithms on the restored platform seemed different, and creators complained.

"This is not the same TikTok that we used to have," creator Lil Kombuchaa said in a Jan. 20 post.

(In a statement to NPR, TikTok said its policies and algorithms have not changed, but that users may have experienced "temporary instability" around TikTok features and access to the app as it worked to restore its U.S. operations in January.)

With U.S. companies such as Oracle and Amazon bidding over the platform this week and Trump's decision to allow TikTok to keep operating despite Saturday's deadline for its sale, the prevailing emotion among creators seems to be a despondent shrug of "Whateverness."

"I literally have a career on this app. And I don't care," P.S. Cirina said in a post on Apr. 3. "And I don't know if that's what they want from us to not care so that we're not fighting."

"How many times are we going to do this?" Princess Milkyy wrote in a post on Tuesday headlined "Tired."

"I'm done. I'm done. I'm tired," Conner Babcock posted on Thursday. " There are bigger things going on in the world. Why are we focused on TikTok? I don't know. Take it. I'll be a teacher. I'll do something else."

Fatigue relates to bigger issues

The fatigue experienced by TikTok creators can be viewed within the context of what's happening more broadly in the country and the world.

"Everybody already has been exhausted by several chronic stressors, which started with the pandemic, a lot of wars around the world, and then the politics, which have been very divisive," said Arash Javanbakht, director of the stress, trauma and anxiety research clinic at Wayne State University and the author of the book Afraid: Understanding the Purpose of Fear and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety.

Joel Penney,  an associate professor at Montclair State University's School of Communication and Media, points to Trump's suggestion on Thursday that he would consider providing some relief on newly imposed U.S. tariffs for China if a deal could be struck with ByteDance.

" I understand the tone of resignation; this kind of being used as a 'political football,'" Penney said of the creators who rely on TikTok. "These folks do feel like they're kind of being played within these bigger political negotiations that they don't really understand and certainly don't know what to expect. Uncertainty is the key word here."

Javanbakht said uncertainty is a key cause of stress, of which fatigue is a major symptom.

"We want to know the outcomes. And when we don't know, we are more prone to the impact of stress," he said.

Another factor is a lack of control. "When we have a sense of lack of control on the fate of what is important and matters to us, and it becomes chronic, we get to a state of learned helplessness," he said.

Coping with emotional exhaustion

But it doesn't have to be that way. Michelle Riba, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan  and former president of the American Psychiatric Association, said there are ways to combat the exhaustion that could be of use both to creators on TikTok — and anyone else who's feeling overwhelmed and fatigued as a result of the tumultuous political and media landscape.

TikTok creators "should remember that they're not alone —  there are many people out there who are feeling this," said Riba. "Finding a group of people who they can talk to, bounce ideas back and forth from, learn from each other is a good idea."  

Riba said remembering that they've probably experienced uncertainty and a lack of control in the past and proved resilient can also help the emotionally exhausted creators.

"Have you been through this before? May not be exactly the same problem with TikTok, but what has helped you in the past?" she said.

Riba added there's nothing like stepping away from TikTok for a while to help ease the exhaustion. That goes for creators on the platform — and the rest of us.

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