They built careers on TikTok. Now they’re bracing for a possible ban

Around two million creators rely on TikTok to make a living. Now, with a Supreme Court hearing looming, they’re preparing for a potential ban.

Joanne Molinaro’s life changed when she found TikTok. She had clawed all the way up to being a partner at a big Chicago law firm after more than a decade of working in corporate litigation. And it nearly crushed her. “I was thinking to myself … lucky me to have this job that pays my bills,” Molinaro said in an interview with CNN’s Terms of Service podcast. “And so what if it’s soul-sucking and it makes me want to curl up at night into fetal position and cry? That’s okay because this is what adults do.” Like many people who were bored at home in the pandemic spring of 2020, Molinaro downloaded TikTok for fun. She mainly watched other people’s videos, although she also posted some cooking videos of her own. But then, one of her videos unexpectedly went viral. Just over a year later, Molinaro withdrew from partnership at her firm to go full-time as a TikTok creator. She’s since built a brand around her profile, @TheKoreanVegan, publishing a cookbook with the same name, and racking up more than 3 million followers across TikTok and Instagram. Molinaro is just one of many TikTok influencers who are now bracing for a possible ban of the app in the United States — and the loss of her six-figure income that could come with it.