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Small businesses brace themselves for potentially disruptive TikTok ban

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Small businesses brace themselves for potentially disruptive TikTok ban
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Small businesses brace themselves for potentially disruptive TikTok ban

2024-12-31 23:00 Last Updated At:23:30

A looming TikTok ban could affect the millions of small businesses that use the short-video social media app to help them grow their business.

Desiree Hill, owner of Crown’s Corner Mechanic in Conyers, Georgia, started her business solo as a mobile mechanic. Sharing videos of her work on TikTok helped spread the word and she became so popular she was able to open a 9,000 square foot brick and mortar shop with five employees 18 months ago.

“Every day I get at least two to three customers that have seen me on TikTok, watched my videos and wanted to become a customer,” she said.

Though TikTok has been around only since 2016, small business owners use the platform in a variety of ways, from growing a customer base to advertising and marketing, as well as selling goods directly from the site.

According to TikTok's own estimates, small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1 billion in revenue in a single month if the ban goes into effect.

The Justice Department ordered the app's China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban by Jan. 19, citing security concerns. The Supreme Court will take up the matter in January. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has asked the Supreme Court for a delay.

If a ban does occur, small businesses will have to migrate to other platforms to find their customers. Instagram Reels, SnapChat and YouTube Shorts are alternatives. The good news is brands likely already have a presence there. But it may be harder to reach teens that have made TikTok their preferred social media app.

Another alternative is to build a strong database of customers that opt in to providing contact emails or phone numbers. That lets owners reach out directly to customers with promotions and other marketing messages.

But Crown Corner Mechanic's Hill said she is worried that other sites may not have the reach that TikTok does. She has a presence on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, but it's not the same, she said.

“I am worried because there is no preparation for this,” she said. “It holds such a significant place in regards to my customer base and how I reach customers that if I lose TikTok, I will lose a large part of my business or I will lose my ability to grow anymore.”

Crystal Lister is the owner of Mommy and Me: The Listers, in Cypress, Texas, which offers interactive workshops about STEM education. She's working on pivoting to YouTube for videos and Instagram Reels for teasers to direct people to YouTube, but said TikTok is easier.

“It is going to be a challenge if TikTok is banned because we’re losing kind of all the functionality you want — the ability for a video creation, the ability to spread the word via social media,” she said. “So we’ll have to use many other platforms to supplement what TikTok did in one.”

FILE - A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

FILE - A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

CHENNAI, India (AP) — For nearly four decades, residents in southern India's coastal city of Chennai have patrolled moonlit beaches at night trying to protect sea turtles and their hatchlings that for millennia have nested along these shores.

Hungry dogs, locals looking for a snack, and disorienting lights are among the hazards facing the olive ridley turtles and their eggs, which can take up to 60 days to hatch. Many turtles are caught offshore in fishing nets, which this year alone have killed hundreds of them in the area.

Nonetheless, local residents have collected and helped to protect more than 260,000 turtle eggs this year in Tamil Nadu state, whose capital is Chennai.

Patrollers scan the beaches looking for turtles nesting or small sand mounds that might indicate eggs are buried underneath. When they find a cache of eggs, they transport them to a protected area and rebury them at the same depth as they were initially found. This is crucial since temperatures affect what sex the turtles will be. Researchers say rising temperatures from human-caused planet warming are resulting in fewer male turtles being born.

“We cover a lot of ground, at least 30 kilometers (18 miles), by breaking into smaller groups and each group walking seven or eight kilometers,” said a volunteer named Melvin, who goes only by his first name and has been working with turtle conservation groups for several years.

The patrols begin around midnight each day during the turtle nesting season, which runs from December to April.

The Associated Press saw one volunteer dig carefully at a possible nesting site until his hand was elbow-deep in the sand, where he found the eggs. He and other volunteers carefully brought the eggs out, counting a total of 137 of them. They were placed in a cloth bag and brought to the safe haven of a nearby hatchery.

“I come during my summer holidays to Chennai just to do this,” said Yajur Karthik, an 11-year-old volunteer from nearby Bengaluru city who has been coming for the last two years to help protect the turtles.

Karthik said he feels it's important to help conserve the turtles given the growing number of challenges these ancient creatures face.

“Only one in a thousand turtles survives,” he said.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

An endangered olive ridley turtle hatchling crawls into the sea after it was released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

An endangered olive ridley turtle hatchling crawls into the sea after it was released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A volunteer guides endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings toward the sea on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A volunteer guides endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings toward the sea on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

An endangered olive ridley turtle hatchling crawls toward the sea after it is released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

An endangered olive ridley turtle hatchling crawls toward the sea after it is released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings crawl into the sea after they were released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings crawl into the sea after they were released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings crawl toward the sea after they are released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings crawl toward the sea after they are released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

An endangered olive ridley turtle hatchling crawls toward the sea after it is released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

An endangered olive ridley turtle hatchling crawls toward the sea after it is released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings crawl toward the sea after they are released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Endangered olive ridley turtle hatchlings crawl toward the sea after they are released by forest officials on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Forest officials show olive ridley turtle hatchlings to visitors before releasing them into the sea at Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Forest officials show olive ridley turtle hatchlings to visitors before releasing them into the sea at Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A volunteer holds a olive ridley turtle hatchling on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A volunteer holds a olive ridley turtle hatchling on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A young olive ridley turtle crawls out of an egg shell at a hatching center on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A young olive ridley turtle crawls out of an egg shell at a hatching center on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A young olive ridley turtle crawls out at a hatching center on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A young olive ridley turtle crawls out at a hatching center on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Markers are placed where the olive ridley sea turtle eggs are buried in sand for hatching on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Markers are placed where the olive ridley sea turtle eggs are buried in sand for hatching on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A volunteer collects broken egg shells at a hatchery for the olive ridley sea turtles on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A volunteer collects broken egg shells at a hatchery for the olive ridley sea turtles on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Visitors look for the olive ridley sea turtles through a bamboo fence at a hatchery on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Visitors look for the olive ridley sea turtles through a bamboo fence at a hatchery on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A crow flies over a hatchery for the olive ridley sea turtles on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A crow flies over a hatchery for the olive ridley sea turtles on Elliot's Beach in Chennai, India, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A stray dog tries to feed on the carcass of an endangered olive ridley turtle on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A stray dog tries to feed on the carcass of an endangered olive ridley turtle on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official and a volunteer carry olive ridley sea turtle eggs collected on Marina Beach to a hatching center, in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official and a volunteer carry olive ridley sea turtle eggs collected on Marina Beach to a hatching center, in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Forest officials and volunteers look at a carcass of an endangered olive ridley turtle on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Forest officials and volunteers look at a carcass of an endangered olive ridley turtle on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official carries olive ridley sea turtle eggs collected on Marina Beach to be taken to a hatching center, in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official carries olive ridley sea turtle eggs collected on Marina Beach to be taken to a hatching center, in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official counts olive ridley sea turtle eggs collected on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official counts olive ridley sea turtle eggs collected on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official collects olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official collects olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official searches for olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official searches for olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official marks an area holding olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official marks an area holding olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official searches for olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official searches for olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official walks with volunteers to search for olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A forest official walks with volunteers to search for olive ridley sea turtle eggs on Marina Beach in Chennai, India, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

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