CLINTONVILLE (NBC 26) — For one Clintonville mother, a potential TikTok ban would mean the destruction of nearly everything she's worked for.
- Meredith Bartel, known as Plus One Planning online, has amassed almost 350,000 TikTok followers
- Her viral success on the platform has allowed her to build her wedding planning business from the ground up
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details for the web)
President Biden signed into law a national security package which will send $95 billion in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies. It also includes a ban on TikTok in the U.S in 9-12 months unless parent company ByteDance sells it.
"Why now? Why did it need to get done overnight?"
That's what Meredith Bartel's first thoughts were when she heard about it. Bartel, known online as "Plus One Planning", says she built up the namesake wedding business almost entirely because of TikTok, where she currently has just under 350,000 followers.
Nearly 77 times the population of Clintonville.
Bartel says losing it would be a huge blow to what she has created.
"Of course we can rebuild and we would rebuild. But that would be four years of progress that would backtrack."
Bartel also says she frequents other social media like Instagram and Facebook — both owned by Meta, which has had its own security issues brought into question.
Bartel believes if TikTok is banned, then that opens the door for other social media platforms to be banned as well.
"Is it okay to swiftly, and without a lot of transparency, ban a social media platform because the government doesn't like the way it is being operated?"
But she says if it does become clear that Tiktok is indeed a threat, she says she would support action being taken against it.
"I would be the first to advocate for national security. So, if there is something that TikTok has access to that I am unaware of, I would love to know."
Meanwhile, TikTok CEO Shou Chew says TikTok will challenge the new law on First Amendment grounds.
