TikTok creators fear for their livelihoods after U.S. lawmakers pass bill that could lead to ban

Ophelia Nichols, known as "shoelover99" on TikTok, is among the scores of online creators and influencers whose livelihood has been suddenly thrown into potential chaos.

Nichols, who lives in Alabama, has over 12.5 million followers on TikTok, an app she uses for creating lifestyle content and delivering rants in her deep Southern accent. Her posts can attract millions of views, and she makes most of her money through promotional partnerships with brands like Home Chef.

But after legislative actions this week in Washington, D.C., Nichols doesn't know what happens next.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a bill forcing the divestiture of TikTok from Chinese parent ByteDance. If ByteDance doesn't sell TikTok, the app could face a ban in the U.S. The legislation passed the Senate on Tuesday, alongside a package to provide billions of dollars in aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

"TikTok allows small businesses and creators to find their people in their community," Nichols told CNBC, ahead of the bill's signing. "It gives everybody the opportunity to be able to provide for their family in a way that they have probably never provided for their family before. It has changed people's lives."

A ban could take years, as TikTok vowed to challenge it in court. But in the meantime, there's a lot of uncertainty.

Small and medium-sized businesses that used TikTok supported 224,000 jobs in 2023, according to an Oxford Economics study paid for by TikTok. These businesses generated nearly $15 billion in revenue and contributed $24.2 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, the study said.

Nichols joined several other TikTok creators in traveling to the Capitol to oppose a potential ban. She wanted to speak out against it and