How will the TikTok ban affect Broadway musicals?

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 10:38am

TikTok has been successfully banned after the Supreme Court's decision. It has been instrumental in bringing new audiences to Broadway musicals in particular.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 10:39am

We need to wait and see what happens since Biden and the incoming Nazi  have both said they’re not going to enforce it. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 10:39am

Maybe it’ll finally rid us of the moistened rumor mill most of us have come to loathe…

[joevitus]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 10:42am

I mean it would be absolutely impossible for anyone to migrate to another platform. 

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 10:47am

What would we do without the Broadway influencers for a day ? 

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 10:49am

It won't.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 11:33am

They'll just transition to Instagram...

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 12:22pm

The incoming administration is probably going to overturn the ban. The alternative is not really TikTok going away but TikTok getting sold. If Bytedance sells TikTok to an American company without their algorithm, it's essentially worthless; and creators would just stop posting there. 

But also, I've dealt with this some professionally, influencers don't make that much money off of TikTok as opposed to some other social media networks. I've seen examples (not Broadway specific) where an influencer has 10X the following on TikTok but makes more money from Snapchat. In a lot of instances, creators were already pivoting from TikTok. 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 12:37pm

From what I understand it is not possible for Trump to overturn the ban. He can pause it with an executive order (and perhaps characteristically do that indefinitely). It is actually a bit of a gauntlet thrown by the Supreme Court at Trump. Forbes has a good piece on the possible options.

 

TikTok ban

Updated On: 1/17/25 at 12:37 PM

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 2:17pm

I think that article is missing a really critical point, which is Republicans will hold the White House, Senate, and Congress. If Trump doesn't like the law, he can just get the them to fast track passing a different law. I'm not saying it's that easy on every legislative issue, but since I don't believe politicians really care about TikTok one way or another, getting them to flip-flop on the ban doesn't seem like a heavy lift.

Updated On: 1/17/25 at 02:17 PM

[mshalo18]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 3:05pm

The same way congestion pricing will affect Broadway- not at all.

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 7:02pm

KevinKlawitter said: "It won't."

This is my knee-jerk reaction as well. I'd be curious to see if there's data on Broadway influencers actually... influencing people to buy tickets. Does it move the needle at all? 

[whatever2]

Posted: 1/17/25 at 7:36pm

> I think that article is missing a really critical point, which is Republicans will hold the White House, Senate, and Congress. If Trump doesn't like the law, he can just get the them to fast track passing a different law.

a little inside baseball, but the Fast Track is only open in the Senate once a year, for budget reconciliation. all other bills are subject to filibuster, and the Republicans don't have 60 votes to invoke cloture.

also, not relevant to this issue, but the House is a dumpster fire where the Republicans hold the thinnest majority in over a century.

directionally, you're absolutely right -- they control everything and can give 47 whatever he asks for. and certainly the utter lack of spine shown so far during Senate confirmation hearings is not encouraging. but over time i don't think it's always going to be a cake walk through Congress.