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Updated: May 31, 2023 @ 1:29 pm
SHEPHERD, Mont. – A Shepherd business owner said his goal is to fight the Tik Tok ban and make his voice heard. Tik Tok was banned by Senate Bill 419 to ‘protect Montanans’ personal, private, and sensitive data and information from intelligence gathering by the Chinese Communist Party’ (see press release here).
Rick Baker owns Metal Tech LLC. He started the business after being laid off from another job.
“Being a small business owner, I didn’t have a marketing budget,” he said.
“It was up to me to do my own marketing,” he continued. “So, I started with Facebook and Instagram. It did really well for me. I got a lot of local orders. It paid the bills, kept the lights on and eventually paid off that first plasma table in that first years’ time frame. And then, right as year two came around, I downloaded Tik Tok.”
Baker said he’s had a lot of success with Tik Tok and now 60% of his business comes from Tik Tok.
“I got a $20,000 job from the University of Montana for panel seams up in the front of Knowles Hall,” he said. “I asked the senior architect, who was 55 mind you, ‘How did you hear about me, M’am?’ She said, ‘I follow you on Tik Tok.'”
“And it is crazy,” he added. “I don’t have a ton of followers. I’m reaching around 10,000. But I just started my hashtag metaltech406 a year ago and I have 1.6 million views on it. I didn’t even know what a hashtag was when I started it.”
He said a Tik Tok ban would have a negative impact on his business:
“I’ve done a few of these interviews now and they say, ‘How is this Tik Tok ban going to affect you?’ And there’s really no way to measure because it’s immeasurable.”
Additionally, Baker uses Tik Tok to promote his nonprofit, Hoodies for Heroes. He also uses it as an Army veteran to connect with a supportive community.
NonStop Local asked Baker, “So, tell me this, I have to ask, are you concerned at all about China spying on us through Tik Tok?”
“No, I feel like they’re not essentially doing anything different than Facebook or Instagram,” he answered.
“I look at Tik Tok as a tool, just like my Quick Books app, or Facebook, or even a wrench for that matter,” he said. “It’s all in how you use it. You can use anything for good or anything for bad.”
“My goal is to fight it and have my voice heard as a small content creator,” he said.
Baker said he plans to go to Helena to participate in hearings for one of the lawsuits. He said those hearings will probably happen this summer.
You can see copies of the lawsuits here and here.
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