U.S. small businesses and creators could lose $1.3 billion in the first month if TikTok is banned.

• If the popular app TikTok is effectively shut down in the United States on Jan. 19, U.S. small businesses and social media creators would lose $1.3 billion in revenue and earnings in just one month.
• ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has been given until January to sell the app due to national security concerns.
• ByteDance and TikTok plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the law and are hoping that President-elect Trump may decide not to enforce it.

If TikTok is effectively shut down in the United States on Jan. 19, small businesses and social media creators will lose $1.3 billion in revenue and earnings in just one month, according to a court filing Monday.

In the court filing, TikTok's president of global business solutions, Blake Chandlee, stated that the numbers would only increase if the shutdown lasts more than a month.

ByteDance's parent company, TikTok, is facing a potential ban in the US as Apple and Google app stores are being asked to stop supporting the app unless it is sold.

ByteDance and TikTok intend to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that upheld the law.

TikTok and ByteDance argued in a filing that the Supreme Court, as the only court with appellate jurisdiction over this action, should have the chance to determine whether to review this highly significant case. They requested a temporary injunction in the case.

If the injunction is granted, the app will be allowed to continue operating until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the appeal or not.

The filing contended that an injunction is particularly suitable because it will enable the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, to determine whether they wish to enforce the law.

If TikTok is effectively shut down in the United States in January, American small businesses would lose more than $1 billion in revenue even if the prohibitions are lifted after only a month, according to Chandlee.

TikTok's global advertising revenue for 2025 would decrease by 29%, resulting in almost $300 million in lost earnings for almost two million creators in the United States.

Over 7 million U.S. accounts utilize TikTok for business purposes as of November 2024.

According to a report by Oxford Economics, 69% of businesses claim that using TikTok has boosted their sales in the past year, while 39% consider access to the platform essential for their business survival.

In the filing, Chandlee stated that the advertising, marketing, and organic reach on TikTok contributed $24.2 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, with TikTok's own operations adding another $8.5 billion to U.S. GDP.

The law that TikTok wants blocked was passed by Congress and signed by President Biden last spring due to concerns about ByteDance's ties to the Chinese government.

The three-judge panel on the appeals court in the District of Columbia ruled unanimously on Friday, rejecting ByteDance's claim that the ban would infringe on the First Amendment rights of 170 million U.S. users of the app or other parts of the Constitution.

The panel concluded that the U.S. government presented convincing evidence showing that the divestment law is specifically designed to safeguard national security, and pointed out that TikTok has never directly denied having ever manipulated content under the direction of the People's Republic of China.