How One TikTok-Focused Company Is Preparing for a Possible Ban
By
Pepijn van Kesteren
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments that will ultimately decide TikTok’s fate in the U.S. As the founder and CEO of Zelf, a social video analytics company that lets brands see consumer sentiment on any issue on social platforms, I’ve been deeply engaged with TikTok for years now. Yes, given my work, I’m invested in seeing TikTok survive this legal and legislative challenge. That being said, there are so many other reasons why the law that Congress passed requiring TikTok be shut down or sold to a non-Chinese owner is terribly shortsighted and goes against everything America stands for.
TikTok is firmly entrenched as a part of American life in 2025—a daily source of news, entertainment, and human connection for more than 170 million Americans. Shuttering it guts the very notion of free speech and would deprive Americans’ access to the only social network that doesn’t trap them in an echo chamber. Instead, thanks to its distinct algorithmic model, you are much more likely to encounter new ideas and differing opinions on TikTok than any other social platform. Never before have we had a platform where so many people can so easily connect and engage with the ideas of people completely unknown to them—the very essence of democracy.
Citizens would miss out on an essential source of news and information that, given TikTok’s scale, would be the equivalent of shutting down network and cable TV in one fell swoop. The law, which pits free-speech protections enshrined in the Constitution against the government’s assertion that TikTok poses a threat to national security, belies the real issue: a lack of regulation of social media companies as a whole. The assertion that TikTok is putting its thumb on the scale to benefit the interests of China at the expense of the United States is not specific to China or to TikTok. There are countless examples—from YouTube to Facebook—of foreign entities pushing malign political or economic agendas on social media. Let’s tackle the issue holistically, not single out one platform.
Stepping back from the legislative and legal machinations, consider TikTok’s reach and influence. Nearly a quarter of all hours of actively watched media in the U.S. takes place via short-form social video—YouTube Shorts, Instagram Stories and Reels, Snapchat—with the vast majority of those views happening on TikTok. TikTok’s dominance among short-form social-video platforms is only growing and is bigger than the other short-form platforms combined. TikTok is not just some passing fad, and it’s certainly more than a repository for viral dance challenges and memes. According to a recent Pew survey, it is a top source of news and information for Gen Z, and, increasingly, for Americans overall.
Critics of TikTok often point to the fact that influencers and other niche outlets deliver a raft of misinformation via its finely attuned algorithm. In reality, analysis by Zelf shows that mainstream news publishers—ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, BBC News, for example—are among the most popular sources for news on TikTok. Take the only presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris last September. According to Nieslen, more than 67 million people tuned in across 17 television networks. That’s a huge number, and yet it is dwarfed by the 1.5 billion views that clips of the debate garnered on TikTok in the 24 hours after the debate, according to Zelf’s analysis. By far, the vast majority of those views were of videos and analysis by so-called legacy media, which are able to distribute the news to people they’d otherwise not reach. It’s not just news outlets that would suffer if TikTok goes dark—tens of millions of news consumers would, too.
Finally, there are commercial implications. Shuttering TikTok in the U.S. would wipe out a thriving platform for millions of creators and businesses, small and large, that rely on the service for e-commerce and to forge meaningful connections with customers. It’s estimated that billions of dollars would be removed from the U.S. economy. Rather than shutting the app down, policymakers should focus on regulation that balances privacy concerns with the platform’s undeniable economic contributions to job creation, entrepreneurship, and commerce.
I am hopeful that, after hearing the company’s challenge to the ban, the Supreme Court deems the law unconstitutional and kicks this issue back to legislators, whose duty is to take legislative action that meaningfully protects consumers’ data on all social platforms, not just TikTok. This would be good for the economy, for the free flow of news and information, and it would also reflect that our current leaders recognize the singular role TikTok plays in the lives of American citizens.
Pepijn van Kesteren is Founder and CEO of Zelf.
