TikTok is not alone in asking the Supreme Court to overturn a federal law that could sell or ban the app later this month. A group of eight TikTok creators also sued the government over the law, saying it violates their First Amendment rights.
Creators claim they could not have had the same success on platforms such as Instagram or YouTube. They include Brian Firebaugh, a first-generation Texas rancher, and Paul Tran, who runs a skin care brand with his wife. Other plaintiffs include Christopher Townsend, a hip-hop artist who shares Bible quizzes with his followers, and Kyra Spann, an advocate for sexual assault survivors.
Firebaugh, who has more than 400,000 followers on TikTok, said that without the income from TikTok's Popular Creator Fund and the sale of farm products offered through the app, “I would have to work another job instead of staying at home to raise my son.” “They will have to get a job and pay childcare fees.” the creators' lawyers wrote in a filing last year. The suit says Townsend, who has 2.6 million followers, “faces the loss of a platform where he can express his beliefs and share his spirituality and music with the world.”
TikTok is paying the legal costs of the creators' lawsuits. TikTok has used similar legal strategies at least twice. The first time was in 2020, when a group of creators successfully challenged the federal ban, and the second time in 2023, when creators sued the state of Montana in an attempt to ban the app.
