- Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers files a lawsuit against TikTok.
- The lawsuit cites TikTok's addictive nature and its negative impact on children and teens.
- A larger TikTok ban may be on the horizon.
- Local small businesses fear the impact a ban will have on the economy.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The potential TikTok ban is looming and for some users it means having to re-think the how they reach customers. Others say good riddance because they believe the app harms kids.
Cahner Olson is a small business owner, in the business of shining a spotlight on other small businesses. She started marketing agency 402 social and Omaha Places, where she and her employees post content marketing local small business like restaurants, tourist attractions and things to do.
They have almost 90 thousand followers on the app.
"There's a lot of anxiety around that right now...It's scary to think that, you know, within one day practically overnight our, you know, half of our agency could just disappear," said Olson.
Last spring the Biden administration worked to pass a federal ban of the app, if TikTok's parent company Bytedance did not sell all U.S. assets by January 19th 2025.
Bytedance and TikTok filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, citing freedom speech and saying the app is "the most powerful mechanism" to make users voices heard.
170 million Americans have TikTok downloaded to their phones.
The supreme court is expected to make their decision soon, if it SCOTUS decides not to override the ban the app engineers say there a few possibilities including: users will not be able to update the app and experience slower content or a pop-up will appear stating the app is unusable in their country.
"There's been a lot of talk about the economy not doing as great right now but then when you take away such a huge outlet for small businesses overnight, you know this could quite literally wipe out a lot of businesses and it's just it's going to have ripple effects for years to come," said Olson.
President-Elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay their decision, so he can come to a "political resolution."
But, even if SCOTUS decides to wait, Nebraska users are still not in the clear. Because Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has a separate lawsuit against the app.
Hilgers complaint says that depression, anxiety, eating disorders and suicide among teens are at an all-time high and the AG's office is pointing the finger at social media, namely TikTok.
"It is wreaking havoc on children all around the state," said Nebraska Attorney General Hilgers.
Senator Pete Ricketts has also been a voice in the charge against TikTok, Ricketts was the first senator to ban the app on state devices.
"TikTok is collecting information on Americans as well that they will be able to use against us in the future. The law is the law. It was passed. It was signed by the president," Ricketts told KMTV.
Friday a judge overruled TikTok and Bytedances motion to dismiss the states lawsuit, and the case will pursue in Lancaster County.
Olson says if TikTok is banned she hopes another app will come along, so small business can continue to reach large audiences.
