A TikTok ban? How prolific TikTok content creators in Southeast Minnesota are responding to the possibility

Mar. 14—ROCHESTER — Alexander Denning, aka Alexander the Great, and Eddie Swartzentruber, who was raised in an Amish community, are two of the most prolific TikTok content creators in the area. Both have vast numbers of followers who relish their videos for entertainment and information.

This week both faced the prospect of being severed from their multi-stadium-sized audiences after the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to remove the social media platform from U.S. app stores. All but two of Minnesota's representatives voted in favor of the ban. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Dean Phillips, both Democrats, voted against the ban. Lawmakers supportive of the bill argue that TikTok poses a national security threat and should be spun off from its Chinese parent company, Byte Dance.

Denning and Swartzentruber had similar responses to the news: They would be sad to see it go. They hope it isn't banned. But they would survive if it was. Their reasons were different, reflecting the different ways in which they use the platform.

The site is enormously popular in the U.S. Roughly 170 million Americans use the app. One-third of U.S. adults say they use the site and one-third of U.S. adults under 30 say they regularly get their news on TikTok.

Denning said the banning of TikTok in the U.S. would mean the loss of

a platform that gives him access to more than a million followers.

But it wouldn't damage his overall social media profile, since he still would have at his disposal an array of platforms for posting his videos.

"I don't feel it would affect me to a degree just as long as I was posting videos and staying relevant," Denning said. "Honestly, I could lose TikTok, and it wouldn't hurt that much. It wouldn't dent my pocket, it wouldn't dent my audience or even really the analytics that I rely on."

Denning said he also posts on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, Whatnot, Rumble and Reddit. New apps are likely to be created.

Denning said attitudes have changed toward TikTok, which he said was hugely popular during the pandemic but "seems to have faded" more recently. Creators like Denning are disgruntled with TikTok for cutting its "creator fund," which pays individuals for creating eye-catching content. The app, moreover, has become volatile and inconsistent. One moment, a creator will have a "super viral video." The next your account will be "dead."

"It's not even like being exposed to the people you already had," he said. "It's a weird app."

"A lot of time, creators are mad at TikTok right now. They're just not really treating their users that great," Denning said. "And it's shown over time. I mean, there's gonna be another app that comes in, and whoever it is, they're going to treat the creators a little bit better."

The sense of dissatisfaction with TikTok is one reason the company's effort to mobilize users into a political force to protest the banning of TikTok may have fallen on deaf ears, he said. Many creators, large and small, felt TikTok hasn't been receptive to users' complaints about the app. So why should they be concerned now that TikTok needs them?

"Don't get me wrong. TikTok is huge, and creators are still kind of hyped about posting on it," Denning said. "They just know that TikTok is not the source of income. This is not where I can rely steadily upon my audience being exposed to my content."

Content creation produces a source of revenue for Denning — about 25% of what he makes annually — but it's one of many. He is also a model and an actor. He and his brother, Christopher, have also opened an 80s and 90s-themed store in St. Charles called "Remember The Way You Felt."

Swartzentruber said he would be saddened to see TikTok banned, but the impact on him if it were to happen would be limited. He has never made a dollar off TikTok. He posts videos because he enjoys the activity. It's fun. He knows others who make a portion of their living off the platform, so he would feel bad for them.

Swartzentruber, a Spring Valley resident, began seeing his videos go viral after he began

posting content about his life being raised in an Amish community in Harmony.

He fled the community when he was 17. Swartzentruber has more than 210,000 followers.

"I hope it doesn't get banned. But if it does get banned, it won't hurt me financially at all, because I don't depend on it financially. But it would make me sad in a way, because I have fun with the app," he said.

Swartentruber said he posts videos when the mood strikes him. Some days, he posts two videos a day. Other times, he won't post any videos for days. Other than Amish culture and lifestyle, his videos delve into his transition into "English" life, his relationship with his wife, Karwyn, and the vacations they share together, among other things.

He also finds TikTok a source of information and entertainment. Whenever he and his wife are considering a vacation destination spot, he types in the country and finds "all kinds of stuff about what to do in the country."

"I think it's a very educational app," he said.

Swartzentruber has a hard time imagining that TikTok, in the end, will be banned. He thinks it will create an uproar politically. The ideal scenario, he said, would involve the Chinese company selling Tiktok, but he also thinks Meta, the company that owns Facebook, should be broken up as well.

"I do love to kind of educate and entertain people, so I hope it doesn't get banned," he said.