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TikTok and its China-based owner ByteDance on Monday took a step to stop a potential U.S. ban of the social media platform that is slated for January — a move that is being closely watched by mortgage professionals.
The companies filed a request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to decide on pausing the ban by Dec. 16 while it asks the Supreme Court to take up the case and for President-elect Donald Trump to weigh in.
This follows a Friday ruling by the D.C. appeals court affirming the authority of Congress to act in the nation’s interest and uphold a law requiring ByteDance to either divest TikTok’s U.S. operations by Jan. 19 or sell them.
The divestment requirement stems from bipartisan legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on March 13. The Senate approved the bill in April and President Joe Biden signed it into law shortly afterward. The law does not make it a crime to continue using the app but prohibits downloads or updates.
The looming ban poses challenges for mortgage professionals who depend on TikTok to connect with clients and real estate agents, and for borrowers — especially Gen Z and first-time homebuyers — who rely on the platform for homeownership and financial literacy content.
Some loan officers are already pivoting to alternative platforms to sustain their client engagement strategies. But uncertainty over enforcement remains as the White House transitions to new leadership next month.
Trump reportedly wants to stop the TikTok ban, with the platform arguing that there is a “reasonable possibility that the new Administration will pause enforcement of the Act or otherwise mitigate its most severe potential consequences.”
If the appeals court doesn’t pause the law, the company plans to seek an emergency ruling from the Supreme Court, according to reporting at Forbes.
In a statement issued on Friday, TikTok said, “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue.
“Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”
’Siloing a whole generation’
A potential TikTok ban is raising concerns in the mortgage industry. It threatens to disrupt a key platform for connecting with Gen Z and millennial audiences — many of whom are first-time homebuyers and real estate agents.
TikTok has a projected 170 million users in the U.S. and its absence could leave a significant gap in consumer outreach efforts, some industry experts say.
“The disadvantage that it’s going to have is on the borrower — and what I mean by that is the people trying to educate themselves,” said Corie Meredith, vice president of marketing at UMortgage. “There’s not a lot of education, especially in schools, around financial literacy, savings, buying a house. TikTok offers the opportunity for borrowers to do their due diligence and learn about the process.”
While UMortgage doesn’t expect a major impact on its brand, Meredith has started to encourage loan officers to pivot their educational content to other social media platforms. The company, which has 295 LOs, estimates that 90% of its team actively uses social media for client engagement.
“Every loan officer has their own means of how to reach Realtors and potential borrowers. In our organization, we have a small percentage of loan officers that are really committed to reaching these individuals through social platforms,” said Lindsi Flynn, director of marketing at Assurance Financial.
“However, the ones that do, that’s their main referral source. And I believe TikTok is a special place because the algorithm puts you in front of a network of people you may have never met before. It can help amplify brand awareness.”
Assurance, a mortgage lender with about 100 loan officers, has embraced social media, and about 20% of its LOs focus on self-promotion through educational video content — a key strength of TikTok. According to Flynn, the platform has been instrumental in “bridging the gap” between Gen Z and other generations. Banning it risks “siloing a whole generation,” she said.
“My advice to LOs is to create as many omnichannel marketing opportunities as possible by leveraging all platforms, so you are not losing out on anything,” Flynn said.
Wake-up call to the industry
Rebecca Richardson, a learning and development coordinator at One Real Mortgage who is also known on TikTok as @the.mortgage.mentor, said that she isn’t worried about the potential ban affecting her business. Richardson has 145,600 followers on the app, but over the past year, she’s put more energy into content elsewhere — particularly on Instagram Reels.
“Frankly, there’s too much domestic money wrapped up in TikTok, as far as investors and things like that,” Richardson said. “I don’t think [TikTok] is necessarily going to go away, or if it is, it’s going to be a slow fade, which is the reason that I started to pivot away about a year ago.”
In March 2024, Richardson told HousingWire that about 12% to 15% of her business originated on TikTok. Today, that number has shrunk significantly since it has been transferred over to Instagram.
“I think part of my strategy is not putting all my eggs in one basket or one platform, simply because we don’t own those platforms, we don’t own those followers,” she said. “So, between Instagram and then kind of starting my newsletter back up, that’s really been my focus for this year.”
But Richardson also said the court decision is a wake-up call to industry influencers who are “comfortable” on only one social media platform.
“It’s very tempting to just kind of go all in on a platform, learn it, and then stay there because it’s comfortable,” she said. “You’ve got to go outside of your comfort zone, and continue to grow and learn different platforms and diversify, or else you’re just overly exposed to one platform. What happens if that account or platform gets banned?
Jordan Nutter, vice president of the influencer division at NFM Lending, is concerned about the court ruling. With 286,300 followers on TikTok, Nutter said that her share of business tied to social media is between 40% and 50%.
“Most of my clients tend to be millennials that come from social media,” Nutter said. “So, if this does go fully into effect, it 100% will affect my business, unfortunately. I have all of the other platforms, for the most part, and I repurpose content over there, but when it comes to which content the followers resonate with, it’s truly TikTok where it thrives.”
Nutter added that she recently celebrated her third anniversary on TikTok in October. Like Richardson, she said that she plans to ramp up her other social media content and repurpose her TikTok videos and ideas.
