As TikTok bans spread, Boston influencers worry they’ll lose more than just a social media platform

Mikayla Nogueira downloaded TikTok with no intentions of going viral — let alone making a career out of it.

The New Bedford native got the app to keep herself busy during the COVID-19 lockdown when her college classes went virtual. After she recreated the viral “Catfish Challenge” — where people filmed themselves before and after putting on makeup — her account blew up overnight, she said. Nogueira continued posting daily makeup content to @mikaylanogueira, which eventually landed her collaborations with major beauty brands like Glamlite.

Less than a year later, she had made being a TikTok beauty influencer into a full-time job, and today, Nogueira has 14.6 million followers.

“[It] wasn’t a slow burn for me,” Nogueira said of growing internet fame. “It was more like a flame thrower.”

TikTok paved a new career path for Nogueira that she would not have pursued had she not downloaded the app, she said. But there’s a growing push in some state houses and even Congress to prevent anyone else from doing the same.

Citing concerns that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, and perhaps the Chinese government, could harvest personal data off the app, a number of states have prohibited employees from downloading the app onto government phones, while a few major universities — like Texas A&M University — have blocked it on their servers. On Jan. 1, Montana will become the first state to ban downloads entirely, and there’s growing momentum in Congress for a national crackdown.

All that worries many users who simply see TikTok as a platform to explore career opportunities, find community, and be entertained.

Take Brian Pu Ruiz for example, a Boston-based photographer with two popular TikTok accounts. He started @brianpuruiz on TikTok which focuses on lifestyle content and home décor and then created a second account called @cornersofboston as a digital brochure of Boston and to try out videography.

As @cornersofboston began to grow, brands reached out to Pu Ruiz to create user-generated content for them, which they’d then use on their own accounts as a sort of advertisement.

When Pu Ruiz first heard discussions of a potential TikTok ban earlier this year, he devoted more of his time to Instagram pages where he uploads similar content. Lately, his Instagram following has even gotten close to the number of followers he has on TikTok, and he has noticed that his views and followings on TikTok decreasing.

While he said a ban wouldn’t drastically impact him, TikTok was the first platform that allowed him to explore videography before he decided to expand on Instagram, he said. He added that the platform gave him most of his photography leads because more people found his account on their For You Page.

To potentially see “something that I was passionate about being taken away... was a huge shock,” Pu Ruiz said.

TikTok has helped jumpstart many careers for young people, but it has also helped seasoned content creators connect with Gen Z. Holly Nichols, who runs @hnicholsillustration, started her social media career on Instagram in 2014 by posting photos of her fashion illustrations. Within a few months of creating her account, she got brand sponsorships, which gave her enough financial stability to quit working as a paraprofessional and a bartender for wedding venues to post on Instagram full-time.

When TikTok began gaining popularity in 2020, Nichols, who is from Quincy, gave the video platform a try and saw the followers come in immediately. Within a year, she had 6 million, three times her Instagram following.

“I changed my posting style from static photos to videos, and that seemed to amplify everything, almost like a renaissance,” said Nichols.

Instagram remains her primary social media platform because it’s where most of her Etsy shop buyers, who are mostly millennials, find her. Having a large and established following on Instagram helped her build a platform on TikTok, Nichols said, but most of her followings on TikTok, who tend to be Gen Z, come from users who randomly find her on their For You Page.

“TikTok particularly gives you an incredible opportunity for growth that other [apps] don’t because of its algorithm,” said Nichols.

Like Pu Ruiz, Nichols has begun preparing in case of a broader TikTok ban by branching out to other platforms like YouTube and Snapchat, while staying consistent on Instagram. But she’s yet to find an app that can recreate the growth she saw on TikTok.

Nicolette Pope, of Charlestown, gained nearly 6,000 followers in 2021 after posting a photo of lobster mac and cheese from Morton’s The Steakhouse on @whatsniceating on Instagram. Since then, she’s generated revenue through collaborations with restaurants or brands that offer food or cooking products.

Like many other users, as TikTok began to gain popularity, she decided to download the app, hoping that it could be another social media platform she could grow a following on.

Pope said brands are turning to TikTok creators to promote their businesses. She’s primarily on Instagram but has noticed that more companies have been requesting to have the content Pope makes for them be posted on TikTok as well.

“If I’m going to make them an Instagram reel, [brands will] want to just use that to make videos and throw it on their TikTok page,” Pope said. She added that it’s because companies are recognizing how short-form videos, coupled with TikTok’s unique algorithm, give them more brand exposure.

While Pope still gets more audience engagement on Instagram, she said TikTok is an app she wants to keep exploring.

A potential TikTok ban will remain a topic of discussion as long as lawmakers worry about the dangers of the app. The concerns may be the result of TikTok being an app that people are still trying to understand, Nogueira said. Many content creators seemed unfazed by data privacy concerns, noting that every social media platform comes with risks of one kind or another.

“TikTok is so unique in the sense that information is being shared every day,” Nogueira said. “TikTok does a lot of good and I think that cannot be taken for granted.”