TikTok influencers and earners on Long Island lament potential ban
Curinne Polizzi, left, owner of plus-size bridal boutique Ivory & Main, models a wedding gown for a TikTok video at the Sayville shop Monday. Her social media director, Gia Catalano, is behind the camera. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
Garden City resident Danielle Sepsy regularly posts TikTok videos featuring items like guilt-free brownie cookies or sugar cookie banana bread to her nearly 100,000 followers. But an imminent ban on the popular social media platform has left her feeling uneasy about the future.
On TikTok, Sepsy has secured brand partnerships, which have helped grow her online bakery — The Hungry Gnome. The business is housed in a 5,000-square-foot commercial kitchen in Long Island City and has 30 employees.
She said a federal ban, approved by Congress last year and set to take effect Jan. 19, could result in brand deals being slashed by half, impacting a key source of revenue for her business.
"This is part of the income I depend on to support ... my life and my family," Sepsy said.
Many other Long Island business owners and influencers who use the platform to grow their enterprises and connect with audiences are awaiting TikTok’s fate, which could hinge on arguments presented before the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.
Justices on the high court will weigh whether the ban violates the First Amendment's free speech protections.
The ban, signed into law in April by President Joe Biden with bipartisan support, requires TikTok to either sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or be banned in the United States. So far, TikTok has maintained its relationship with ByteDance.
The federal government has declared the social media platform a national security risk, noting that China could force ByteDance to give the country users’ data, or use TikTok to manipulate information. However, the U.S. has yet to publicly identify instances where that has happened.
James Lewis, a technology and national security researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the government’s concerns about TikTok being a national security risk seem a "little overstated," but that China’s behavior is a good reason to be suspicious.
"The main problem for TikTok is they're connected to China, and nobody trusts China," Lewis said.
In December, a federal appeals court upheld the ban. President-elect Donald Trump, who supported a ban while in office, said during his most recent campaign for the White House that he wanted to save TikTok. In December, Trump asked the Supreme Court to postpone the ban.
In the meantime, some TikTok creators are scrambling to find a replacement, with Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts among the possibilities. Yet, some say those alternatives pale in comparison to TikTok's algorithm and the platform's easy-to-scroll videos.
In 2021, a skiing fall left Plainview resident Rebecca Koltun paralyzed from the neck down. While in inpatient rehab, Koltun, 25, started a TikTok account.
Koltun’s TikTok account, which features videos that are a mix of humor and education about life as a quadriplegic, has garnered about 125,000 followers.
Koltun said she has a strong following on Instagram and is working to build an audience on YouTube. Even so, she added, TikTok is easier to use and has stronger search features.
The platform, she said, has allowed her to connect with other people who have spinal cord injuries, inspire others, and earn some extra cash through avenues such as brand deals.
"There's not a whole lot of jobs in the world that I can really do as someone who can’t move and it is nice to be able to make some money myself on there," she said. "And I feel very independent doing that."
She added: "I'm proud of myself for being able to actually earn money on there through my own creativity."
For Goodness Cakes Co., which conducts most sales of its cookies, cupcakes and other baked treats via a food truck, also sells customized, preordered items at its bakery in Wading River, said Sydney Squatrito, who cofounded the business with her sister, Samantha Squatrito, in 2019.
The bakery started posting videos on TikTok regularly last spring, which led to a big bump in business. Nevertheless, Instagram is more of a sales driver, Sydney Squatrito said. For Goodness Cakes has 41,700 followers on Instagram and 7,290 on TikTok.
"If it wasn’t getting banned, that was my goal, for us to get bigger on TikTok so we’d have just as much sales through TikTok as we do with Instagram," said Squatrito, adding that Instagram users engage less with the products than her TikTok users, who record videos of themselves sampling products and giving reviews at the food truck.
About 40% of sales at Ivory & Main, a plus-size bridal shop in Sayville, come from out-of-state customers who find the business on TikTok, said owner Curinne Polizzi, who founded the business in 2018. Many of Ivory & Main’s 81,300 TikTok followers discovered the shop from its "Curvy Godmothers" video series, which launched in late 2020 and gives bridal style tips and pokes fun at wedding culture, she said.
A shutdown of TikTok could lead to a significant financial loss for Ivory & Main, but not enough to impact operations because of other added other revenue streams, including a custom bridal gown department that started last March in Oakdale and an Ivory & Main formalwear and casual clothing store that opened in Port Jefferson in 2023, Polizzi said.
"I’m definitely not out of ideas. If TikTok goes down, we’re still doing it," she said.
With AP
Garden City resident Danielle Sepsy regularly posts TikTok videos featuring items like guilt-free brownie cookies or sugar cookie banana bread to her nearly 100,000 followers. But an imminent ban on the popular social media platform has left her feeling uneasy about the future.
On TikTok, Sepsy has secured brand partnerships, which have helped grow her online bakery — The Hungry Gnome. The business is housed in a 5,000-square-foot commercial kitchen in Long Island City and has 30 employees.
She said a federal ban, approved by Congress last year and set to take effect Jan. 19, could result in brand deals being slashed by half, impacting a key source of revenue for her business.
"This is part of the income I depend on to support ... my life and my family," Sepsy said.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Many Long Island business owners and influencers who use TikTok are nervously awaiting the platform’s fate, which could hinge on arguments presented before the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.
- Justices on the high court will weigh whether the ban violates the First Amendment's free speech protections.
- The ban, signed into law in April by President Joe Biden with bipartisan support, requires TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to continue being available in the U.S.
Awaiting TikTok's fate
Many other Long Island business owners and influencers who use the platform to grow their enterprises and connect with audiences are awaiting TikTok’s fate, which could hinge on arguments presented before the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.
Justices on the high court will weigh whether the ban violates the First Amendment's free speech protections.
The ban, signed into law in April by President Joe Biden with bipartisan support, requires TikTok to either sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or be banned in the United States. So far, TikTok has maintained its relationship with ByteDance.
The federal government has declared the social media platform a national security risk, noting that China could force ByteDance to give the country users’ data, or use TikTok to manipulate information. However, the U.S. has yet to publicly identify instances where that has happened.
James Lewis, a technology and national security researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the government’s concerns about TikTok being a national security risk seem a "little overstated," but that China’s behavior is a good reason to be suspicious.
"The main problem for TikTok is they're connected to China, and nobody trusts China," Lewis said.
In December, a federal appeals court upheld the ban. President-elect Donald Trump, who supported a ban while in office, said during his most recent campaign for the White House that he wanted to save TikTok. In December, Trump asked the Supreme Court to postpone the ban.
Scrambling for a replacement
In the meantime, some TikTok creators are scrambling to find a replacement, with Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts among the possibilities. Yet, some say those alternatives pale in comparison to TikTok's algorithm and the platform's easy-to-scroll videos.
In 2021, a skiing fall left Plainview resident Rebecca Koltun paralyzed from the neck down. While in inpatient rehab, Koltun, 25, started a TikTok account.
Koltun’s TikTok account, which features videos that are a mix of humor and education about life as a quadriplegic, has garnered about 125,000 followers.
Koltun said she has a strong following on Instagram and is working to build an audience on YouTube. Even so, she added, TikTok is easier to use and has stronger search features.
The platform, she said, has allowed her to connect with other people who have spinal cord injuries, inspire others, and earn some extra cash through avenues such as brand deals.
"There's not a whole lot of jobs in the world that I can really do as someone who can’t move and it is nice to be able to make some money myself on there," she said. "And I feel very independent doing that."
She added: "I'm proud of myself for being able to actually earn money on there through my own creativity."
A bump in business
For Goodness Cakes Co., which conducts most sales of its cookies, cupcakes and other baked treats via a food truck, also sells customized, preordered items at its bakery in Wading River, said Sydney Squatrito, who cofounded the business with her sister, Samantha Squatrito, in 2019.
The bakery started posting videos on TikTok regularly last spring, which led to a big bump in business. Nevertheless, Instagram is more of a sales driver, Sydney Squatrito said. For Goodness Cakes has 41,700 followers on Instagram and 7,290 on TikTok.
"If it wasn’t getting banned, that was my goal, for us to get bigger on TikTok so we’d have just as much sales through TikTok as we do with Instagram," said Squatrito, adding that Instagram users engage less with the products than her TikTok users, who record videos of themselves sampling products and giving reviews at the food truck.
About 40% of sales at Ivory & Main, a plus-size bridal shop in Sayville, come from out-of-state customers who find the business on TikTok, said owner Curinne Polizzi, who founded the business in 2018. Many of Ivory & Main’s 81,300 TikTok followers discovered the shop from its "Curvy Godmothers" video series, which launched in late 2020 and gives bridal style tips and pokes fun at wedding culture, she said.
A shutdown of TikTok could lead to a significant financial loss for Ivory & Main, but not enough to impact operations because of other added other revenue streams, including a custom bridal gown department that started last March in Oakdale and an Ivory & Main formalwear and casual clothing store that opened in Port Jefferson in 2023, Polizzi said.
"I’m definitely not out of ideas. If TikTok goes down, we’re still doing it," she said.
With AP
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