SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on a piece of legislation that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the United States.
"Tiktok has literally changed my life, and that's not an understatement," said Harini Baht. Baht grew up in San Diego and uses the platform to teach people about science.
"As soon as I started to post videos it was like this unleashing of creativity and freedom to express myself," she said.
She now has about 603,000 followers and uses the platform as her main source of income. "It's considerable compared to Instagram. Instagram doesn't pay you for reels, and it's in cents. It's minimal and obviously not enough to live on," she said.
She worries her livelihood, and ability to reach her audience could be in jeopardy.
"How many people it's going to affect both on the creator side and people that go on TikTok to learn — it's more about education, and that's something I really want to hit home," she said.
Concerns have been raised among lawmakers and security experts that the Chinese government could use TikTok to get the personal data of millions of American users. The House passed legislation Saturday to ban TikTok if its China-based owner, ByteDance, doesn't sell it within one year.
"I think it's a travesty because we are in a country where speech is free," said Rory Douglas.
Douglas uses TikTok to promote financial literacy to his 1.4 million followers. He worries young people won't get the same opportunities he's had using the platform if it's banned.
"Very [few] jobs are in the inner cities now. We've gone from brick and mortar to click and order, and I believe TikTok gives young people an expression and brings their art and humanity to the forefront," he said.
The TikTok legislation is part of a package of foreign aid bills that provides $95 billion of military aid to Ukraine and Israel. The Senate is expected to approve it with bipartisan support. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
WATCH RELATED: House passes bill that could lead to nationwide ban of TikTok (March 13, 2024)