[Discussion] I think (unfortunately) we need to talk about the TikTok ban

Like most people with a pulse in America, I've been aware of the looming TikTok ban. And while questions still remain--will the app be saved by Trump? will the app continue to work but not receive updates? will ByteDance decide to do what it did when India banned Tiktok and just make the service unavailable to users (the WSJ reports this is what Byte Dance is planning)--the reality is that a ban has wide-ranging economic impacts for authors and publishers (especially, for publishers).

I recently read Kathleen Schmidt's piece on the ban, and largely agreed with her take that it was surprising publishers hadn't waded into the fray in support of the app. There are, of course, very real national security concerns around TikTok (you know, it's okay for domestic companies to mine the shit out of your data, but China, being an authoritarian regime, can't play), and I'm not that interested in whether or not it's smart for anyone to build a career on a platform wholly owned by a tech company that couldn't give a f*** about you or your livelihood, but I am interested in what it means for book sales if we no longer have BookTok. I'm also interested in what it means for the Indie to Trad pipeline, as well as for backlist titles as Schmidt notes.

Publishing revenue has grown over the last five years almost entirely on the back of books that have achieved social virality. Tiktok has been that main driver. Sure, instagram exists, but reels didn't give us CoHo or the Seven Husbands of EH, TikTok did. I've long thought TikTok, while good for publishing, is bad for art, because it narrows the type of book publishers are taking a chance on. TikTok has a flavor. You can see it. Publishers are responding to it. So. Does a true TikTok ban mean good things for art? Or, does the economic fallout mean less art is bought period and we all lose.

To be honest, unlike a lot of TikTok users, I'm inclined to believe there is significantly damning information about the Chinese government's involvement in the company and by extension Americans' lives that has led to the ban, rather than this being a handout to Zuck (oh god, listen to his Joe Rogan interview and you'll need to seriously consider leaving IG/FB, too), but I don't know. I don't have an answer. Do you?

Is Romantasy the last thing BookTok is going to leave us with, or will we get to see where the wheel turns next?

ETA: The NYT now has a piece up about this as well.