Will the ban on TikTok affect TV news media?
The spillover effect of a ban of this hugely popular social-media platform -- some 170 million Americans have had some access to the service -- will drive what happens next, perhaps to other media.
Will those TikTok fans move to other social-media platforms, say, X/Twitter, Facebook Reels, Snap, BlueSky?
First we need to look at what effect TikTok’s short-form video platform has had. Some analysts believe it has not only been key in slowing down, hurting older-skewing social media platforms, but also changing mainstream TV programming.
For sure, millennials and Gen Xers have flocked to the very popular social-media service.
The idea is that shorter video content has been fostering even shorter attention spans when it comes to regular TV shows.
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One YouTube observer says this has revealed itself in TV show writing. For example, there is a trend of lots of long, detailed monologues that start off new popular TV shows that tell exactly what is coming. All this to keep viewers' attention strong early on.
According to one veteran TV writer, TV shows now can feel very lame: “Since there is no set-up, there is no payoff.” In other words, TV writing now sucks.
Will that change now that TikTok is going away?
Hardly. Consumer social media behavior has been baked into younger viewers' habits. Other social media can take up the slack.
With TikTok likely to go away forever, brands will make adjustments -- shifting budgets away to similar young users-skewing social media-like platforms. Certainly not to legacy linear or even connected TV services.
The biggest issue for federal regulators has been China-owned ByteDance culling users' data/private information, according to officials.
The bottom line is what happens next. First Amendment issues have many analysts worried stopping any free-speech platform can have a ripple effect when it comes to other media platforms -- including legacy TV news networks.
The new Trump administration seems to plan for the media overall -- and it doesn’t look all that constructive. Think about the recent ABC News paying a $15 million settlement over a defamation lawsuit.
“On the campaign trail and in interviews, Trump has suggested that if he regains the White House, he will exact vengeance on news outlets that anger him,” writes NPR’s David Folkenflik.
Many media analysts believe this is unlikely -- given all historical protections provided by the first amendment.
At the same time, President Trump has been leaning in, hinting he might try to reverse the TikTok law. Early days of this Trump Administration will have legacy TV and modern digital news media watching closely.