well the social media platform Tik Tok has about 9 months to find a new non-chinese owner or be banned from the US and its millions of users all now that President Biden has signed the legislation forcing its sale into law as part of a massive foreign aid package the move has small business owners scrambling to figure out what to do next since many use the platform as a means of free advertising and a way to reach otherwise marginalized communities senior correspondent Flanagan reports for most folks Tik Tok offers entertainment like cat videos dance contests and challenges like the milk crate and more ominously the driving chaa slide but for about 7 million users it's a business platform Tik toks where Manos Squan skip Chapman kicked off his deodorant company a year ago posting as Java beard have you ever been in a car with three teenage boys and the windows rolled up if you have you know exactly what it smells like I made one video I put it up and then overnight it went to a million views it's turned into a full-time business where we have employees that do fulfillment here in New Jersey I do all the manufacturing myself in New Jersey and this is all because of Tik Tok Chapman says Tik Tock shop paid to hook him up with a manager to help scale the business and meet demand he sold 25,000 sticks of coffee coconut and Kentucky bourbon scented deodorant and he views a Tik Tock sale or ban with deep alarm just to cancel this or force a sale uh it it is going to have a very detrimental effect on a lot of people that are providing for their families during a hard time to provide for your family so I think it's a big deal and it's very frustrating for us almost every member of New Jersey's Washington delegation last week voted to ban Tik Tok unless its parent company bite dance sells the National Security Experts are sounding the alarm warning that our foreign adversaries are using every tool at their disposal including apps like Tik Tok to amass trows of sensitive data on all Americans Tik Tok critics also point to its connections with China and the app's algorithmic suppression of certain stories in an alleged bid to skew US public opinion but one New Jersey Congressman voted against the ban for the the United States Congress to start to get into the business of banning individual companies that needs to be a last case scenario and there's still more that we can do to try to address these issues for Millions Banning Tik Tok means losing a singularly safe space Tik Tok is way more than just a social media platform it is a Lifeline for folks it is how I connect with the communities that I try to impact with my work New Jersey activist Kareem Willis says Tik Tok's a vital connection he cites influencers like medical mythbuster who provides crucial health information and communities that offer platforms for political advocacy and emotional support especially for people of color and lgbtq folks he believes Banning Tik Tok could cause a crisis especially for marginalized individuals um who again have been navigating these kind of like systems that have meant that have actively excluded them for so long Willis acknowledges Tik Tok's dark side for example the blackout fixation challenge recently sent a South Orange middle schooler to the hospital but he says all social media apps need better oversight not just Tik Tok and it's a growing political platform particularly for Gen Z what does it mean to take away people's platform for their advocacy and for information especially in a year like this in in an election year where um genz voters especially they go to 85% of them go to Tik Tok for news as opposed to the more traditional news outlets like the cable um or um or newspapers but the countdown clock's ticking for bite dance it's got a year to sell Tik Tok which it says it won't do the controversy likely headed to court I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News NJ Spotlight News [Music]