INDIANAPOLIS — Precious Jewel is a full-time content creator.
“I am your number one source for Indy’s hood happenings. So, I’m a go back and tell the hood what’s good for us and what’s not, we’re gonna connect the dots," Jewel said.
Her blog, The Most Precious Jewel, shows her traveling around Indianapolis — trying new places, meeting new people and talking about the issues that matter to her.
“I just wanna be the connecting piece to my community. There are so many people, so many Black people, in Indianapolis that believe Indianapolis is all bad. Who believe it’s only one way to live in Indianapolis and it’s not true," she said.
Her ability to connect with her audience is being threatened.
A law banning TikTok in the United States could go into effect as soon as this weekend.
“TikTok as an app has been very influential. There’s a lot of folks who have their entire livelihoods bound up in TikTok," Indiana University Professor for Business Law and Ethics Scott Shackelford said.
Shackelford says we’re looking at potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity that could be sacrificed because of the ban.
Content creators will likely have to find alternatives in the near future.
“It’s most likely going to transition to other platforms over time," he said.
That’s the case for Terrell Davis, who’s known as The Tea Guy.
“My TikTok is essentially me getting requests from different followers and making the tea with the combinations that they suggest," Davis said.
TikTok has opened up many doors for Davis, including him starting an online tea shop called Mintea.
“It’s helped me tremendously. It’s essentially sales funneling. If I post a video and say maybe 10,000 people watch it, there’s a chance that at least 60-100 of those people want to click the link in the bio or use the products I use to make my teas, which are in my website," he said.
Davis has 1.9 million followers on TikTok.
He fears what will happen if that goes away.
“It’s still going to be detrimental. It’s still 1.9 million people that have the potential to see my videos that won’t have the potential to see them anymore," Davis said.
