As a recruitment manager, the potential ban on TikTok may have you wondering how this could impact your ability to advertise job openings to job seekers on the platform. First, let’s look at why TikTok might be getting banned.
The battle over TikTok, the app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has been brewing for some time now. In 2020, the Trump administration issued executive orders that would have effectively banned TikTok and another Chinese-owned app, WeChat, from operating in the United States.
The reason? The notion was that these apps posed national security risks, as their parent companies are based in China. There were concerns that the Chinese government could access American users’ data through these apps. This is the exact reason why the Indian government banned TikTok with around 50+ other Chinese apps at around the same time in 2020.
Fast-forward to Biden; his administration has continued to view TikTok as a threat, and since then, negotiations have been ongoing to address the national security concerns. In June 2022, the Biden administration gave ByteDance a deadline of early 2023 to sell its U.S. TikTok operations or potentially face a nationwide ban.
It’s been more than three years since the original motion, and whether TikTok will be banned in the United States remains to be seen. The company is still negotiating with the U.S. government to try to reach a deal to allow it to continue operating in the country.
One possible solution ByteDance has is to sell its U.S. operations to American companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Walmart, which have been interested in the platform since the very beginning of this saga. However, this scenario has also not made much progress.
In April, ByteDance was given nine months to divest TikTok or face a U.S. ban. If a deal is not reached and TikTok is ultimately banned, the app will no longer be available for download in the U.S., and existing users will likely lose access to the platform. As things stand, ByteDance now has around six months left to find a buyer.
What does it mean to you, the recruiters?
If TikTok is banned in the U.S., you will no longer be able to advertise job openings on the platform. Without access to TikTok, you may need to reevaluate your social media recruitment strategy and explore alternative platforms, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and emerging social media apps.
In India, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts saw increased traffic following TikTok’s ban in 2020. If the ban goes through, the U.S. will likely see the same shift of users from TikTok to Instagram and YouTube.
While the TikTok ban could impact your employer branding and how you connect with potential candidates, there is hope. A U.S. company might still buy TikTok. If not, there are other successful platforms with similar user bases. Removing TikTok will create a void in the market, which other platforms will likely step in to fill.
