Mitsy Sanderson and Carrington on the TikTok ban:
Carrington:
All right, so Mitsy, what are we gonna do about the TikTok ban?
Mitsy:
(Laughs) Great question. What are we gonna do about this? I don’t know.
Carrington:
OK, let me— let me hear your honest thoughts about it first, and then I’ll give my honest thoughts about it.
Mitsy:
My honest thoughts about it is, I don’t want it to go away because that’s my main—
Carrington:
Your native platform.
Mitsy:
…that’s my main source of income, and my main platform of— my main form of expression right now in my life.
I feel like I started on TikTok because of the pandemic happening, and I, like, couldn’t really dance as much anymore so I kind of just, like, started that.
And, it’s like, I just love the creative aspect of it. And like, also, I’m able to, like, live off of it.
Carrington:
Right.
Mitsy:
You know? Do what I love from it, like, acting—
Carrington:
Which is, like, character work and acting—
Mitsy:
Acting, character work. And, like, I’ve always wanted to go to this one, like, school called Groundlings and, like, I was able to do it because of TikTok. Like, I wouldn’t—
Carrington:
They opened up a lot.
Mitsy:
Yeah, yeah. It just, like, opened up so many opportunities. And I know that there’s tons of people that have, like, started so many businesses off of it.
And, like, I don’t even know. Just— it’s just gonna make everything a lot more difficult. Just financial— financially, obviously, I’m probably gonna have to find a job, or something else.
What?
Carrington:
You are— you’re gonna have to find a job because of it?
Mitsy:
What— how else would I make money?
Carrington:
What if— but you don’t— you— you— OK w— w— OK wait. So— so, finish off what you were gonna say, and then I’ll— I’ll go to what I’m gonna say. Sorry, I’m not even— I’m saying that with what I’m already thinking, so that doesn’t— so, continue. Sorry.
Mitsy:
I don’t know. For me, I am just so used to, like, waking up, filming something, posting every day on TikTok, like, different characters and stuff.
So, like, I don’t know. I feel like I need that, like, consistent— like, that was my form of, like, somewhat consistent income. I don’t know.
Carrington:
Same. My first real source of social media income where it was like, ‘Oh, I could live off this.’
Mitsy:
Yeah. So, I’m like—
Carrington:
Like, it was like, ‘Oh, this is my job for real now.’
Mitsy:
Yeah. So, I’m like I— I don’t know. I kind of just like having consistency, too, so, I’m like, I might as well just—
I don’t know what I’m gonna do, and it’s kinda freaking me out. I mean, obviously—
Ouch. When you upload most of your time, energy, talent, and audience access to a big box platform you don’t control.
‘But, TikTok is so bomb’ is a really poor argument for leaving one’s literal livelihood in platform jeopardy. And, yet, so many creators continue to do so.
Let’s say this divestiture/shutdown push blows over, and TikTok remains. How many creators do you believe will take these most recent nailbiting weeks as even the slightest warning?
(And, how many will think the warning was just about TikTok?)
— Tang
Carrington’s owned platform is: Swag Nightmare
