How a TikTok Ban Could Devastate Rising Stars Like Ashnikko and Lay Bankz

This Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that forces TikTok’s parent company (which is based in China) to sell the app or face a ban in the United States.

With the app currently on the chopping block, it’s important to realize that the potential ban might affect artists who got their start on the platform and who primarily use it to promote their new material. Let’s take a look at some of the emerging artists who would suffer the most from the possible ban.

This American hip hop duo from Los Angeles, consisting of Bobbi LaNea Tyler and Foloya Omi Kunerede, started releasing music in 2019, but it was in 2023 when the two started gaining recognition via TikTok thanks to their hit You Wish.

Born in Shelton, Connecticut, Alec Chambers got his start on TikTok by sharing covers of famous songs along with some of his own. His cover of Halsey’s Without Me gained massive attention, millions of views, and streams. It even received praise from Halsey herself.

This Philadelphia singer and rapper first ventured into music in 2019 with her song Passion. When she released Na Na Na, it became a massive hit on TikTok, along with her other song Left Cheek (Boo Doo Blick). Her 2024 song Tell Ur Girlfriend quickly went viral on the platform and marked her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.

Maia, also known as mxmtoon, is a multi-talented artist from Oakland, California, who first started releasing music secretly in 2017. She used TikTok to promote her debut album The Masquerade, and the lead single off the album, Prom Dress, was used in hundreds of thousands of videos on the platform.

Her first song, Krokodil, was published to SoundCloud in 2016, followed by her first EP Sass Pancakes in 2017, the Unlikeable EP in 2018, and the Hi It’s Me EP in 2019. It was this EP that featured the single Stupid with Yung Baby Tate, which became a viral hit on TikTok and even reached #1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.