CHARLOTTE, N.C. — From teachers to small business owners, people in the Charlotte area have seen large success on TikTok.
This happens as pressure continues for Congress to take action to ban the popular social media app.
Some of the most popular content creators on TikTok are in the Queen City.
That includes content creators like Nancy Bullard, an elementary science teacher; Summer Lucille, the business owner of Juicy Body Goddess; and Michelle Kimball, a veteran bartender.
Each shared their thoughts on TikTok, speaking out against a possible nationwide ban.
Bullard and Lucille had the chance to go to Washington, D.C. to advocate for the platform.
"TikTok invited me and about 30 other content creators to travel to D.C. and share our stories, how we use the app, what it's meant to us the impact it's had on our lives," Bullard said.
Bullard, whose science videos reach millions each day, said the app has given her work a wider audience.
"In Charlotte, North Carolina, I can teach the 20 to 25 students that are sitting in my classroom in front of me, but on TikTok, those classroom walls are totally broken down, and I'm able to teach millions of people all over the world," Bullard said.
The app is banned on both federal and state devices in North and South Carolina.
Lawmakers said the company’s parent company Byte Dance could be influenced by or ordered to turn over data on Americans to the Chinese Communist Party. TIkTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew denied those allegations in a congressional hearing while Bullard was at the capital.
Bullard said she is not ignoring potential security risks in the app, but believes lawmakers are not focused on the correct issues.
"Data brokers have been selling our data to the highest bidder for years," Bullard said. "Meta, Google, Amazon, they all do it and so banning TikTok to get rid of that security problem is not going to actually solve the problems -- singling out this one app is not going to do much."
She is instead calling for Congress to pass comprehensive data privacy laws.
U.S. Congressman Jeff Jackson, who represents part of Charlotte, told his TikTok followers the issue is multifaceted.
"I think we can use this moment to produce at least one clear point of consensus moving forward we need a data privacy wall that will protect us from all internet companies and all social media platforms, not just the ones that are owned by foreign governments," Jackson said.
President Joe Biden has told the company they should sell its U.S. portion to an American company or he will take action to move forward with a ban. This will likely need action from Congress.
Jackson has said in a previous interview with MSNBC he's in full support of the Biden administration’s ultimatum of sell or ban. He called the administration’s actions “necessary and appropriate”.
Jackson is advocating for a sale to an American company, but a staffer of the congressman told WCNC Charlotte, "if a sale doesn’t happen, then he full[y] supports the ban."
Jackson has previously told WCNC Charlotte he uses the app on a separate phone with only the TikTok app on it.
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis called out members of Congress like Jackson who use the app in any capacity, saying in part in a statement, “It’s beyond reckless for members of Congress to still be encouraging their constituents to use TikTok despite knowing the Chinese Communist Party is mining all their personal info.”
Bullard said she will continue to advocate for her and others content creators' rights to be on the app.
"I'm not going anywhere," Bullard said. "I'm not going to manifest TikTok's demise in this interview. I'm going to keep creating educational content, I'm going to keep posting it on my platform."
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.