Local content creator concerned about potential TikTok ban

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- While Congress debates a ban on the popular social media app TikTok, local creators worry that a ban will take away their only source of income.

Geo Rutherford, screen name @geodesaurus, has about 1.7 million followers on TikTok. The former high school art teacher makes videos about lakes and is happy to have found a place on an app that might be more well known for dancing and pranks.

"It's kind of satisfying to know that you can fill a niche and do something weird, like make videos about lakes, and people are here for it," she said.

For one month out of the year, Rutherford sells art and drawings based on her videos.

"That one month alone has supported me more than my job as a full-time teacher," she said.

But if a TikTok ban passes the US Senate and is signed into law, Rutherford fears her followers, and her way to make a living, will dry up.

"I completely rely on it, and many others do as well," she said.

Rutherford says moving her videos to another platform like Instagram or YouTube will not work.

"There's different restrictions on the different platforms that make it harder to make content," she said.

While she says she is concerned about the spread of false information and data privacy, Rutherford is not convinced that those concerns rest solely with TikTok.

"It's not perfect, what social media app is perfect? But I do think that TikTok is special, and I do think it deserves to exist and not be ripped down because of wider international tensions."