You may have seen the headlines, and maybe even watched the TikToks: The US House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would restrict TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, from operating in America.

That’s caused content creators and social media managers alike to melt down, fearing that their favourite channel may get taken away from them.

But the headlines are somewhat misleading.

Let’s start with what is happening:

What isn’t happening?

So what does that mean for us?

If anything, I believe this will drive more interest and attention to TikTok.

There are real concerns about such a massive media company being owned by a foreign adversary, and this isn’t new: US law already says that traditional media can’t be owned by foreign actors. For example, when Rupert Murdoch, who is Australian, wanted to buy Fox News, he had to become an American citizen before the sale would be approved.

Despite those concerns, there is no world where a for-profit company is going to walk away from an asset worth $250 Billion (and growing).

If you’ve been taking our advice and dabbling in TikTok content, or even leaning into the opportunity that it offers as a search engine, there is no reason to walk away now.

Remember that even if the political stars align and somehow the bill does pass, then Bytedance will still have a full 6 months to figure out their next steps. In the world of social media, 6 months is a lifetime. I can’t even tell you if Instagram will still exist in its current form 6 months from now, so there’s no sense in worrying about something that has a very low probability of happening in that time frame.

If you want to read more about the political drama, check out this article from Reuters.

If you want to double down on the TikTok opportunity, check out their new Creative Center, which features examples, ideas of what to post, and even an AI-generated assistant you can use to answer specific questions about your brand.