Why social media regulation could be a boost for the creator economy

TikTok’s future hangs in the balance, with its January deadline to find a new owner fast approaching beneath the oversight of a new, and unpredictable, US administration. 

President Trump originally tried to ban the app himself in 2020 by executive order, which failed. However, he now seems to be taking a more favourable view, with TikTok’s board announcing it was “cautiously optimistic” about its future since CEO Shou Zi Chew has been in discussion with X CEO and future member of the US administration, Elon Musk. The fact that Trump has 14.6 million TikTok followers of his own now probably does not hurt, either. 

Will the TikTok ban actually happen?

It is safe to assume that, if TikTok is banned in the US, the app would take a massive hit worldwide. The cultural ‘centre of gravity’ would likely shift  to a competitor platform, similar to what has happened  with X and Bluesky. Unlike X, TikTok has major existing competitors in the form of Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and even Roblox’s Clip It. A ban, however brief, would see the cultural zeitgeist move somewhere new and social inertia would make it almost impossible to shift it back. 

How likely is the TikTok ban? The one real truth of regulation is that it takes time: even if TikTok does not meet the current January deadline, it is highly unlikely  TikTok will disappear from US phones anytime soon as the appeals process gets underway. A ban may come eventually, but it is doubtful to be within the year. 

Yet the timing of the discussion is pertinent, with the implications reaching  far beyond TikTok itself. Australia has just passed regulation enforcing a minimum age of 16 to use social platforms. The UK government has considered similar legislation, although it is currently looking at alternatives to a ban. The mental health issues of chronic social media use are well-documented, and the social and democratic threats – from Cambridge Analytica to the Southport Riots – are growing. 

Can creators solve everyone’s problems? 

Underpinning these issues are the addictive way algorithms boost short-form content that best triggers strong emotions and prompts engagement, so as to better benefit from ads. The proposed regulation against TikTok also focuses on its algorithm and data privacy, with fears of Chinese government involvement a driving factor. 

So how can social platforms move away from fears of information control, algorithmic bias, and a reliance on ad monetisation? By doing what they were already starting to do: lean into the creator economy.

TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch already offer creator tipping and subscriptions, with TikTok taking the biggest cut of revenue among the three. YouTube and Twitch are already well-established as long-form video platforms, but TikTok has toyed with lengthening its videos for a while, in an attempt to boost its ad revenue. 

By focusing on creation and creativity, rather than passive consumption, platforms can downplay issues of information vetting and curation control. They can worry less about emotionally-driven, and thus polarising, engagement as a necessity, by instead promoting creativity as the ideal form of engagement. Monetisation from creator subscriptions and creative tools can reduce reliance on ad revenue, and platforms’ reclassification from ‘centres of information consumption’ to ‘gamified creative sandboxes where users just make silly videos’ would take them off critical regulatory radars. 

This is not, of course, all guaranteed. Creator-driven revenue will be small to start, advertising will still be the biggest share of earnings, information will still be a large part of why people consume content on the apps, and algorithms will still rely on engagement, which will inherently favour polarising, emotive opinions. Nevertheless, a strategic shift towards the creator economy could dull the edge of regulation and public sentiment and benefit adjacent creator economy partners. As social platforms face turbulence ahead, independent creators could see a new window of opportunity.