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Goodbye to TikTok: This is how much money influencers on the app make a year

After a ban on the social media app came into force on Sunday, TikTok has gone dark in the United States - for now, at least.

After a ban on the social-media app came into force on Sunday, TikTok has gone dark in the United States - for now, at least.
Shannon StapletonREUTERS

After a federal ban on TikTok came into force in the United States on Sunday, Americans can no longer access the social media platform. It’s an app that has over 170 million users in the States - and, for TikTok influencers, it is estimated that it generates a six-figure average annual salary.

How much can TikTokers earn per year?

According to research carried out by the data-analysis company Exploding Topics in 2024, TikTok content creators earn an average of $131,874 a year from the platform, which allows users to upload and view short-form videos.

However, it should be highlighted that this figure is significantly warped by the huge sums pocked by the very highest earners among TikTok influencers.

Indeed, Exploding Topics notes that the median annual income of a content creator on the platform is between $15,000 and $20,000. Only 13% bring in $100,000 or more per year, while 48% earn under $15,000.

Will TikTok return under Trump?

Citing the threat TikTok allegedly poses to the US’s “national security, foreign policy, and economy”, it was president-elect Donald Trump who first proposed banning the Chinese-owned platform in the States.

In an executive order issued in August 2020, during the final months of his first term as president, Trump said: “TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories.

“This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information - potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”

President-elect Donald Trump has said he's "likely" to suspend the US's federal ban on TikTok.
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President-elect Donald Trump has said he's "likely" to suspend the US's federal ban on TikTok.Carlos BarriaREUTERS

Trump “will probably announce” TikTok reprieve on inauguration day

Ahead of his return to the White House, however, Trump now says he’s ready to suspend US lawmakers’ ban on TikTok, which was upheld by the country’s Supreme Court this week.

Trump, who is to be sworn in as US president on Monday, told NBC News’ Meet the Press this weekend that a 90-day suspension of the ban “is something that will be most likely done”. “You know, it’s appropriate,” he said. “We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation. If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”

Under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was signed into law in April 2024, TikTok parent company ByteDance was given until January 19, 2025, to sell the platform to a non-Chinese owner.

No such sale materialized before that deadline, however, so TikTok has now gone offline in the US - for the time being, at least.

“Please stay tuned!”

TikTok is now unavailable to download on mobile app stores in America, while existing US users of the app are being greeted with the following message: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.

“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

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