How a TikTok Ban Would Impact NIL

On May 17th, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419, making Montana the first state in the nation to ban TikTok and prohibit mobile application stores from offering TikTok within the state effective January 2024.  This re-raised discussions about a potential (unlikely) ban nationwide of TikTok due to concerns about leaking personal data of users.  

This led our team to hypothesize, how would a ban of TikTok impact NIL activities?

Many college athletes, particularly female athletes, have successfully utilized Tiktok to earn NIL revenue since July 1st, 2021.  Olivia Dunne, the Cavinder Twins, and Sedona Prince are just a few examples of athletes who have leaned into NIL partnerships on TikTok - all have over 2.5 million followers each on the social platform.  From a pure social media perspective, TikTok accounts for almost a quarter of “engagement on sponsored posts.”  Instagram accounts for, roughly the other 75%.   

Olivia Dunne has used her NIL through TikTok to foster deals with massive companies such as Vuori and American Eagle.  

Other examples of  NIL partnerships directly through TikTik include Jared McCain’s deal with Invesco QQQ and Adrien Nunez’s deal with Air.

If a nationwide ban did go into effect, many of these athletes would lose a massive following that they’ve grown through the app, and this could harm their NIL potentials.  Many speculate that there will be outrage among athletes, and a potential for lawsuits to be filed on behalf of the athletes.  Only a month after the Montana ban, content creators in the state have already begun to file lawsuits.

NIL partnerships via social media promotions would certainly change if TikTok were to be banned.  Potential partnerships would be majorly affected, and companies would likely start to shift their focus more to athletes who have a larger following on Instagram.  Athletes that rely primarily on TikTok could be left at a major disadvantage.

For those athletes, this is a wake up call to start diversifying your social media if you are heavily reliant on TikTok.  While a nationwide ban of TikTok is still far away and for many unlikely, it’s a fruitful exercise for those NIL eligible are earning money from TikTok partnerships, to ask themselves, “how could I still be a marketable influencer athlete to work with if all of a sudden my TikTok presence vanished overnight?”

To learn more about how TikTok impacts NIL, check out the CleanKonnect NIL Certification Course.