 TikTok is potentially getting banned in the US and today's video is going to cover everything that you need to know on how it can potentially affect you, whether you're just somebody that's just scrolling through TikTok for entertainment, a business owner, or a content creator. So first things first, why is TikTok potentially getting banned? Well, the US government is simply saying that China is using TikTok as a way to spy on its citizens, primarily through just gathering their information through their phone. Also, another big one is a supposed threat to kids, primarily in the form of cyberbullying. Also, a lot of the content that's shown in the US or really the content that people here watch is pretty much just brain rotting and just straight up entertainment. Nothing else. A small percentage of people actually use TikTok for educational purposes. Whereas in China, apparently there, they're actually using TikTok more than anything for educational purposes. So here in the US, you have a higher percentage of people consuming very useless content pretty much. Whereas in China, more people are watching actual useful content that provides some sort of value to them. So is TikTok going down for sure? Honestly, nobody knows. This has been tried in the past and it did fail. But this time they're actually going a lot harder on it. They're actually really pushing towards this. And they passed a bill already. It's still in process, but it's gotten a lot further than it did last time. Now, what needs to happen in order for this to pretty much just entirely be avoided is the US is saying that in order to not ban TikTok here, what needs to happen is TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, needs to sell TikTok to a US-based company. So pretty much they need to move TikTok from China to the US and it needs to be operating out of the US. So pretty much just get rid of China and completely cut them off. TikTok will be 100% an American company. And not surprisingly, ByteDance said, no, we're not selling. So how long do we have before it actually shuts down? If it even shuts down at all? Well, that's another thing that is honestly up in the air. Nobody knows, nobody can tell you. It's really easy to sell a product to somebody. But when you're talking about an entire company, that takes a lot of work. That takes a lot of moving parts. That takes a lot of paperwork, a lot of legal work. And it takes a lot of time. So some people are saying you have three to six months. Other people are saying you have six months. Other people are saying you have maybe a year. Some others are saying you might have four or five years even. Because there's a lot of different bills that have been passed through that are still awaiting implementation even after they were approved years later. So honestly, nobody can tell you for sure. But the general consensus seems to be anywhere between three months to about a year. Yeah, that's a wide, wide window. But again, nobody knows for sure. You can't really put a time frame on that. Now, what happens if TikTok actually does go down? Let's talk about the worst case scenario here. Well, first off, one of the biggest affected demographics of people are going to be small business owners. On top of that, it's also going to be content creators. So many people found their start on TikTok, myself included. I got started in the content creation space, as well as the e-commerce space through TikTok, because it just made it that much easier to get started. It's crazy because TikTok actually helped a lot of people quit their jobs and help them get started with their side hustle. And it helped them take that side hustle to the next level and really make it their main form of income. So tons of different business owners and content creators are going to be affected in potentially a negative way, especially if they're using TikTok as their main marketing platform. A lot of businesses are going to see slowdowns and sales. They might even have to shut their doors completely because some companies, they rely solely on TikTok. Some companies are only selling on TikTok shop. It will also take billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators and small businesses. It will put more than 300,000 American jobs at risk and it will take away your TikTok. Now as far as creators, same thing. A lot of creators got their start on TikTok because it was an easy platform to go viral on. It's a very easy platform to discover completely new content that you never thought even existed. The most random videos can go viral just by picking up a little bit of traction. So because of that, a lot of companies and a lot of content creators got started on TikTok. They got their businesses started. They got their livelihoods started. Now I'm not trying to say that every single creator or every single business is going to go down or even suffer. Some are luckily going to stay afloat. Others might not even be affected at all. But what is for sure is that most of the people that are on TikTok, whether they be content creators or small business owners or big business owners, they're going to move to another platform and that's going to be either Instagram reels or YouTube shorts. And that's not including whatever other platform comes up in place of TikTok because you better believe that if TikTok goes down, somebody's going to try to take its place. Somebody's going to try to come up from the dirt and establish a brand new platform with pretty much the exact same features. Now speaking of other platforms, I think what's going to end up happening, honestly, if TikTok does go down and people start migrating to Instagram reels or YouTube shorts is that there's going to be two things that can happen. Either it's going to continue on and the creators are going to be forced to learn how those new platforms work and how you can actually use them to your advantage, which is going to be kind of hard for a lot of people. But the other option is going to be that these other platforms are going to try to restructure their algorithm to be more like TikToks. Either way, they're all trying to compete against each other. That's one thing that everyone needs to understand. All these social media platforms, even though Instagram and Facebook are owned by Meta, at the end of the day, they're all competing against each other. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, these are all in competition with each other to see who can get the most business, who can get the most users and who can bring in more money through their creators. And right now, TikTok has just been absolutely blowing everyone out especially with things like TikTok shop. TikTok shop has the potential to make tons of money. And not just that, regular content creators, people who just go online and start talking about different topics, they have the opportunity to make a lot more money as well by receiving free gifts. Now, regarding those gifts, there's one thing that you need to know. There's a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean there's a massive amount of people online, on live at any given time. And a large portion of those creators that are on live are receiving gifts. Now, imagine receiving 10,000 gifts, right? 10,000 gifts spread out amongst 10,000 creators. Of course, from those 10,000 creators is probably, I don't know, 100,000 that are on live as well, but they're just not receiving gifts. So let's talk about the smaller percentage, the 10%, I guess. From those people that are receiving gifts, TikTok is taking half of that. Some of these people are able to make hundreds of dollars every single day. Imagine how much money TikTok is making, literally just by hosting this. It's free money for TikTok. And then on top of that, they're also making money through small businesses when they charge their fees through the TikTok shop. And again, TikTok shop has been just absolutely going insane right now. So with all of this talk about money, think about it this way. How much money is met up potentially missing out on? How many people do you see on Instagram Reels or Facebook Live just talking about a topic or just sitting there doing random ASMR videos? And be making over $100 every single day in just gifts. Free money. It's free money for TikTok. It's free money for the content creator. I'm pretty sure your companies like Snapchat or Instagram are getting kind of jealous there. Kind of thinking we're missing out on a lot of money. Like a lot of money. So again, I mean, there's a massive amount of different factors that go into this. So you can't really pinpoint anything. But at the end of the day, there is competition between all of the different platforms and who can make the most money, like I said. And again, just to say it one more time, you better believe that if TikTok goes down, somebody's going to try to take its place. Somebody aside from Meta or Snapchat, a brand new company guaranteed is going to try to come up and take its place. Not just one, it's going to be multiples. And you're going to have to kind of see which one is actually working, which one is gaining traction. And then you're going to have to jump on that wave, but a little bit more than that later. So where does this leave us? Well, unfortunately, like pretty much all of the answers at the beginning, nobody knows. It leaves us up in the air as to what's going to happen. Because again, it's unpredictable. They might sell, especially if once you start getting closer to the date that, you know, that the US gave them by dance might just end up saying sell it, or maybe not, because they're going to end up losing a lot of money if they do. I don't know. It's way too much to really take into consideration. Like there's no way that you can expect what's going to happen. So honestly, at this point, the best thing that you can do is just wait. Now, like I said, this has happened in the past, but it hasn't happened to this extent. There's a lot more support now than there was before, but there was a lot of support at the beginning too, and it ended up going nowhere. The bills just dropped or they just forgot about everything and everyone moved on with their lives. The elections are coming up pretty soon. They're coming up in November. And when the election times come around, a lot of things start coming up. A lot of problems start coming up and people start trying to resolve, trying to move to one party, move to the other party. So maybe all of this has something to do with the elections, trying to sway your vote one way or another. But at the end of the day, do I personally think that it's going to get banned? No, not really. A lot of people that I've talked to, they have the same opinion. They all think it's not going to happen. It's just for show. It's just a bunch of stuff. But at the end of the day, not a lot of people are actually thinking it's going to go through. But with that being said, be prepared, because again, you never know what's going to happen. Even though I don't think it's going to happen, that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen and you better be prepared. So what can you do to be prepared in case TikTok goes down? Well, all of this should really put into perspective the fact that you should be marketing in more than just one platform. If you're using TikTok as your only marketing platform, then you have a few different problems to worry about. Honestly, you should really be varying from right now, if not from before, your one different source of income and two different ways to market. There's still opportunity in all of the other platforms. There always has been and there's always going to be. Now, the only thing you need to do is you need to adapt to those platforms. You need to learn them the same way that you learn TikTok, because guaranteed, your first video isn't the one that went viral. It was after a bit of trial and error. And you have to do the same with these other platforms, like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, or even Facebook or Facebook Reels. I think they have, I think it's called Facebook Reels on Facebook, but whatever. The videos from Instagram Reels end up on Facebook. So if you haven't done so already, or if it's not something that you've been trying to do, if you have an audience at TikTok, if your business has an audience at TikTok, then try to migrate them to the other platforms. What I do, honestly, is I just post the same videos from my TikTok to my Instagram and on my YouTube Shorts. That's not the best strategy, but it at least keeps a consistent flow of content going. So whoever follows me on TikTok, I can tell them that this information is going to be on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. So make sure you follow me on there, just in case we do get banned. So lately, what I've been doing in my videos is I've just been sprinkling in a little bit of that. I've been telling them towards the end of the video. Look, also remember I'm available on Instagram at here. So make sure you follow me. Also, make sure you start diversifying your businesses and diversifying your marketing tactics. So start posting everything on Instagram. Start posting everything on YouTube. Start posting on Facebook. Start different ways of marketing. Start doing email marketing. I know a lot of people think email marketing, ew. But statistically speaking, email marketing is actually one of the most effective ways to market. It's probably number one, I think it was. But aside from that, you also have SMS marketing, cold calling. Nobody likes cold calling, but it's still an option. Facebook ads, if you're only selling on TikTok shop, let's say, then start diversifying your marketplace. Start importing those products from your TikTok shop to eBay, also to Etsy. Well, of course, the relevant products to Shopify. So start also diversifying not only your marketing, but also your selling platforms. It's always good to have multiple streams of incomes, whether it be from different businesses or different platforms. So that way, if one of them gets cut out, like let's say in this case, TikTok shop, you still have the other ones supplementing you and keeping you afloat. Now, the most important thing that you need to do though is if TikTok does get banned, you need to keep an eye out for the next big wave. And that's guaranteed going to happen when that's what you're going to have to keep an eye out for. Because there's going to be a lot of waves. There's going to be a ton of small waves that are going to be coming out. But that one tsunami is going to be that one app that's finally going to take over TikTok's place. And that's the one that you need to look for because there's going to be a lot of apps that are going to try to take TikTok's place. One way that you can actually keep up with them and see what works is, again, do the same thing that I'm doing with TikTok and Instagram and Shorts. Take one video, sign up for all of the apps that come out and post it across all the platforms and see which ones work. If you notice that one of the platforms actually starts to pick up a couple views, a couple likes, try to more or less see how it works and what kind of content is actually going viral on there and adjust your content to that. Because that's another very important thing that you're going to have to do. You're going to have to be flexible. You're going to have to be able to adapt to changing trends. But that's a worst case scenario if TikTok were to go down. Now, the important question, should we stop using TikTok for our dropshipping business? Well, up until now I haven't talked anything about dropshipping, so for those of you that don't know, dropshipping is a simple business model. It's a fulfillment business model where you don't take care of pretty much anything. All you're going to be doing is sourcing products, listing them online, and pretty much selling them. Whenever somebody places an order, instead of you fulfilling that order, what's going to happen is you're going to go to your supplier and then you're going to place that order with your supplier and they're going to send it to your customer. You sell a product for $100. It was a pair of shoes that cost you $50. You made $50 a profit. Simple. So, dropshipping on TikTok is a huge business. There's a lot of opportunity on there. There's massive potential, especially through TikTok shop. And if you want to learn more about dropshipping on TikTok shop, fully automated, then you can check out this video right here. In it, I explain absolutely everything that you need to do in order to get started dropshipping through automation with AutoDS on TikTok shop. Now, I'm going to tell you one thing about that video right now. There is nobody else on this platform that has covered it the way that we did. So, make sure you check it out. It is the most informational video that you're going to watch on the topic. So, the simple answer to the question, should you stop dropshipping on TikTok shop, is no. Do not stop what you're doing. Whether TikTok is at risk or not, whether your business on TikTok is at risk or not, that doesn't mean that you need to stop what you're doing right now. Because for one, nobody knows, or nobody has really a timeframe on how long TikTok shop is actually going to go down if it does go down at all. Two, it's uncertain whether or not it's going to go down. So, why are you going to stop doing what you're doing? And then two years later, it's TikTok is still going. Now, if you haven't started, then I suggest that you still start. Even if you've been considering maybe not starting because of the whole TikTok fan. Again, you don't know when anything is going to happen. So, why not start right now? Get everything set up. Start to build your brand. Get some brand awareness. Bring in some loyal customers. And then if TikTok were to go down, you already have an email list. You already have loyal customers that will follow you to whatever platform that you're on, whether that be Instagram, or just making content on Instagram and rerouting them to Shopify to make their orders. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't get started or why you should end what you're doing on TikTok. TikTok still has massive potential to make you a lot of money in a short amount of time. Now, I don't like saying that a lot. I don't like talking about making a lot of money in a short amount of time. But on TikTok, it's possible. Is it likely? Somewhat. It's actually not impossible. It's more likely on TikTok than it is anywhere else. So, why not try to get that in right now? Before the bend. Let's say you have six months. You have six months to be able to go viral with a few different videos and make either a few hundred, a few thousand, a few tens of thousands, or maybe even a few hundreds of thousands. People have literally made tens of thousands of dollars in the course of a few weeks by just having a few viral videos and good products. And to be completely honest with you, nobody is slowing down with TikTok. Everyone who's been on the platform and who's been active on the platform, they're still as active as they've always been. If not even more active to try to show the government, look, we don't want to leave this place. We want TikTok to stay where it is. So, there is no slowing down with TikTok right now. There is no reason not to get started or to continue what you're doing. Now, remember for the most up-to-date guide and the only guide that thoroughly shows you exactly how you can get started dropshipping on TikTok shop, make sure to check out this video right here. It's completely worth it. Trust me, you're going to get a lot of value out of it. Now, in that video, I do mention that you need to connect everything through a series of apps. So, like two different apps. But just so you know, AutoDS is actually working right now. This is top secret. We're working right now on a TikTok dropshipping integration. So, you're going to be able to dropship directly on the TikTok shop with AutoDS. Fully automated and the best part is not limited to just the U.S. This is going to work in multiple countries in multiple regions. So, even if it does get banned in the U.S., you still have the potential to make a massive amount of money with TikTok shop. So, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you do not miss out on that. Trust me, you don't want to miss out on that. So, also hit that little bell notification so that way you get notified each and every time we post a video. So, be on the lookout. That's going to be 100% worth it. You want to be the first on that. So, pretty much to sum it all up, TikTok shop is potentially getting banned, but nobody knows for sure whether or not it is going to be banned or not. And if it does happen, nobody knows how long it's going to take in order for it to actually get implemented. So, keep doing what you're doing. If you've been wanting to start on TikTok, whether that be creating content or starting your own dropshipping business on there, do it. If you've been doing it up until now and you've been thinking about stopping because of the ban, don't stop. There's no reason to slow down. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. But that's not to say that you shouldn't prepare for the worst. So, don't just stick to TikTok. Also, any content that you post on TikTok, put that on Instagram. Put that on the shorts. Put that on Snapchat. Whatever platform it may be. Make sure to check out the How to Start Dropshipping on TikTok Shop video. To get started, dropshipping on TikTok Shop. And remember that we're also working on that feature to be able to dropship directly from AutoDS to the TikTok shop anywhere around the world. Remember to always diversify your income streams whether that be with different businesses or different platforms that you're selling on. Stay flexible and learn to adapt to change because if you want to succeed, you're going to need to be able to adapt. The bigger companies, that's why they're still around because they've learned to adapt to change. They've learned to adapt to changing trends and changing pretty much everything. Remember, change is inevitable so you might as well embrace it. My personal thoughts, TikTok's not going anywhere, but just in case it does, be prepared. Hopefully you found this video helpful. Hopefully you made it all the way to the end. If you did, please make sure you smash that like button. Let me know down in the comments below what you think about this whole TikTok ban. Is it something that you think is going to happen? Is it something that you think is just going to blow away with the wind, especially after the elections come? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. I really want to hear what you think about this. Huge thank you to everyone for watching. Again, if you liked it, if you made it this far, smash that like button, hit that subscribe button, and ring that little bell notification so you don't miss out on any future videos. My name is Mario with Out of DS. I'll catch you guys next time.