'That's their livelihood': Windsor, Ont. influencer MD Motivator talks possible U.S. TikTok ban

TikTok could be in trouble across the border, with the United States House of Representatives passing a bill Wednesday that could lead to a nationwide ban on the popular social media app.

For Windsor-based content creator Zachery Dereniowski, better known by his handle MD Motivator, that’s not good.

“Obviously that’s not something that I want in terms of being able to create the effect and impact that we’re trying to create,” he said.

Dereniowski uses all the popular social media sites to put out content highlighting the good in the world – giving away thousands of dollars and kicking off crowdfunding campaigns for people in need.

He’s gained millions of followers and billions of views. Half of that engagement, he said, comes from American TikTok users.

“That is my largest platform,” Dereniowski said.

MD Motivator said he took his first steps towards creating content while at a low point in his life.

“Social media and real world interaction saved me,” he explained.

Working through a breakup, isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic and unhappy in medical school – hence the “MD” in his online MD Motivator persona – he said the hobby-turned-job turned things around.

“It was a cry for help. It was something that got me out of my depression. It was my therapy,” he said.

In the years since getting started, he’s posted on just about every social media platform there is, and believes diversification will spare him from the harms should TikTok be banned.

But he worries for other users.

“There's tons of content creators and businesses and entrepreneurs that, that's their livelihood,” said Dereniowski. “They've been able to grow their small business or pivot from the pandemic into something that's really beautiful.”

In Canada, TikTok has already been banned from the devices of federal government workers as well as staff with some provinces and municipalities.

Bans stem from fear user data could be shared with the Chinese government by ByteDance, the China-based parent company of the app.

So how likely is it that Canada could see a full out ban, like what the United States is pursuing?

According to tech analyst Carmi Levy, the answer is very.

“If it does move forward and become law and if it accomplishes what lawmakers are hoping it accomplishes, I would expect something similar in Canada to at least be proposed or discussed within a few months,” Levy said.