State of the Long Island Nonprofit Industry
Adina Genn //January 21, 2025//
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Long Islanders navigate TikTok’s uncertain future
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Adina Genn //January 21, 2025//
After TikTok went offline for about 14 hours on Saturday, businesses who rely on it may wonder what’s next for the platform and how it might impact them. The platform, with its 170 million users, has helped many amass a following to help them build brand identity, grow their business and more.
“TikTok is probably at this point the most popular platform for a lot of our clients,” said Shannon Duer, EGC Group social media manager in Melville. “A lot of businesses are trying to reach young consumers and a younger audience and what better way to do that than through TikTok, which is really where all the young people are.”
Businesses on TikTok can see the platform as all-inclusive. They can partner with influencers and through TikTop Shop, sell items to consumers directly, where people can access a cart, shop later and get discounts, Duer said.
But now the platform’s future is uncertain.
TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance was supposed to find a U.S. buyer or be banned on Jan. 19. Yet on Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the platform operating for 75 days, a relief to its users even as national security questions persist. During his first term as president, Trump led the effort to ban TikTok, which he had said posed a threat to U.S. national security. Former President Joe Biden declined to enforce the bipartisan measure that he signed into law, while Trump has pledged to keep TikTok open after crediting it for helping his 2025 election victory. Trump’s legal authority to preserve TikTok is unclear under the terms of the law recently upheld unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile the discussion about the platform continues.
“When a foreign adversary owns your infrastructure, it can use it when they see fit and they can use it to harm the United States,” U.S. Sen. Kristin Gillibrand said in a television interview recently. “To give that amount of power to someone who is not typically our friend and could become an adversary in the future is deeply unwise.”
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins also weighed in. “TikTok is enjoyed by millions of Americans. The problem is not the platform but rather its control by the Chinese Communist Party,” she said in a statement. “The huge bipartisan majority that passed this law is not looking to ban TikTok; it is looking to prevent the Chinese government from using the popular social media site as a propaganda platform and as an espionage tool to collect extensive personal information on Americans.”
Josh Lafazan, the former Nassau County legislator, has more than 701.9 followers on TikTok. He is watching the news surrounding the platform closely.
“TikTok has been an exceptional tool to help me share my political opinions with a wide audience of followers,” Lafazan said. “However, I’ve said consistently that data collection by the Chinese Communist Party puts all of us at risk, and that threat must categorically be removed.”
Lafazan said he is “hopeful that President Trump will be successful in helping lead an acquisition of TikTok by an American buyer, and I’ll continue to use the platform until we get clarity on this within the 75 days of his executive order.”
Duer said that the EGC Group has been monitoring issues surrounding TikTok since a potential ban was announced over a year ago, and advising clients.
“It’s been a very dramatic time,” she said.
“We’re seeing a lot of people shift to Instagram – influencers and all,” she said.
Influencers have been saying that they don’t know what to expect, urging people to follow them also on Instagram, whose features are similar to TikTok, to continue their same reach, Duer said.
EGC, she said, developed strategies for clients, “making sure anyone we partner with, and the posts we are doing, are able to make sense on Instagram as well.”
Other platforms, including Lemonade Social and RedNote, are also trying to fill a potential void for content creators and their audience, she said.
On Monday, companies including Oracle and Akamai Technologies were powering TikTok’s servers to stay online, while others including Apple and Google made the app unavailable for new users to download.
But for anyone who already has the app, everything on TikTok resumed as it was, with the same content and followers, Duer said. People are posting, while awaiting further clarity.
“We’re continuing to post on TikTok as long as it’s available to us,” she said. “We work with influencers, and they’re continuing to post too.”
Duer recommends ensuring “you’re being strategic and proactive.” This includes diversifying an organization’s “social media presence by being on several platforms with tailored content strategies.
“Don’t just throw all your eggs in one basket,” she said. “Make sure you’re repurposing content to Instagram so if [the ban] ever does happen, you have a plan in place to provide people with this content somewhere else and be able to direct them there.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Share this!
The company marketed products to small and mid-size businesses, relying on ‘incorrect tax advice,
January 17, 2025
The former congressman has been tapped to lead the EPA
January 16, 2025
Outlook also includes housing, childcare and tax cuts
January 14, 2025
A new report was released by Thomas DiNapoli, the state’s comptroller
January 13, 2025
Nearly 1,200 leaders attended
January 10, 2025
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday said she will push for new laws to make it harder for hedge funds to pu[…]
January 10, 2025
Here are some ways changing interest rates can affect your real estate purchases[…]
Decarbonizing building operations and manufacturing requires a transformation in[…]
In capital-intensive industries, growth often hinges on the ability to secure fi[…]
Sign up for your daily digest of Long Island Business News.
Listen to this article Long Island Business News has announced the winners of this year’s 2025 Hea[…]
In following up to our previous In the Lead section focusing on women-owned businesses, we’d like […]
Veterans Day is a significant observance that honors those who have served in the United States Arme[…]
In this special section, “Long Island Business Most Influential Long Islanders, 2024,’ we salute[…]
Listen to this article Long Island Business News has announced this year’s Class of 2024 Hall of F[…]
Despite some improvement last month, 2024 was another disappointing year for the area’s housing ma[…]
The 25,720-square-foot building is on 2.5 acres.
The partnership is aimed at supplying design solutions for commercial spaces.
The 13,280-square-foot office building is on 2 acres.
The first of 14 planned area locations opens Friday.
Inked: Recent LI real estate deals
16/1/2025
Herbst: A hopeful road ahead for Long Island
16/1/2025
Cantor: Making NY affordable: an elusive goal for the governor and legislature
16/1/2025
On Our Island: 100-year-old Holocaust survivor honored for bravery, resilience
16/1/2025
The great mall overhaul: LI retail turned inside out
16/1/2025
Our mission at Long Island Business News is to be the vital business news and advertising source to Long Island’s most influential readers.
Get our free LIBN e-alerts & breaking news notifications!
Subscribe for access to the latest digital and special editions.
© 2025 BridgeTower Media. All rights reserved.
Use of this website is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell My Info/Cookie Policy
