Smaller social platforms are adding TikTok-like features as TikTok’s future hangs in the balance

LTK is not TikTok. The creator-focused shopping platform has just 40 million monthly active users, versus the 1 billion who watch video clips posted on TikTok. TikTok generates about $16 billion in annual revenue whereas LTK makes “hundreds of millions,” according to a company spokesperson. The fact is that most people have never even heard of LTK. But after President Joe Biden last month signed legislation forcing a TikTok sale or ban, LTK and a handful of other smaller social platforms may be able to take advantage and throttle their growth.

“There are opportunities and there are friction points,” says LTK president Amber Venz Box about a potential TikTok ban.

As it is, LTK is morphing into a more TikTok-like platform by the day. LTK is now emphasizing video, allowing creators to post more in-depth content about the products they’re hawking such as one very TikTok-ish clip about the differences between polyurethane leather stilettos and actual leather ones. The videos can be up to 10 minutes long and feature links to buy the products shown.

In recent weeks, social gaming company Roblox has also introduced features that mimic TikTok that push it deeper into shopping, user videos, and creators. It premiered a tool from developer Neura Studios for users to create and edit videos, and a hub for posting TikTok-style clips that feature Roblox avatars (rather than actual humans). Roblox also doubled down on its e-commerce arm with a new Walmart partnership to sell the retailer’s products in Roblox’s metaverse. This could entice Roblox’s 71.5 million daily active users, most of them young, to shop more, potentially also attracting some of TikTok’s users and creators.

Meanwhile, Amazon-owned Twitch, the live-streaming service popular with gamers, in October started letting users post short disappearing videos, or Stories, like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat and TikTok have long offered. It also just launched a scrollable video feed that looks a lot like TikTok’s For You page—showing users videos that they wouldn't otherwise find.

LTK, Roblox, and Twitch probably would have released their new TikTok-like features regardless of the looming TikTok ban, to be imposed if TikTok’s China-based owner fails to sell the service to a non-China-based buyer. After all, tech companies copy rivals all the time. But the fact that the new products coincide with TikTok’s current turmoil could give them a bigger boost than they would have otherwise got. TikTok has vowed to fight its possible ban in court.

However, there are some potential downsides to a TikTok-free future in the U.S. along with the benefits, says LTK’s Venz Box. TikTok users often discover creators on TikTok and then later follow them onto LTK. Without that unofficial funnel, Venz Box worries that traffic to LTK may tumble. It’s difficult to know for sure.

In the end, some analysts, including Jasmine Enberg from eMarketer, suspect Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram (with emphasis on the Meta properties) stand to benefit the most from a TikTok ban. They could both ultimately strengthen their social media duopoly and put even more pressure on the competition.

As it is, both companies already have billions of users and huge ad revenue that have helped propel their parent companies to $1 trillion-plus market caps. And their deep pockets have allowed them to afford workforces equivalent to the populations of small cities.

But killing off one of social media’s titans wouldn’t exactly be a good thing for consumers, says Anupam Chander, a Georgetown University law professor who specializes in the global regulation of new technologies.

“As with the demise of any big competitor, there will be harm to consumers,” he says. “I think this is a massive detriment to consumers who don’t have this very important forum for expressing themselves or getting entertainment.”

Chander also says losing TikTok as a marketing platform would eventually increase prices for online ads on Meta and Google. “It will harm advertisers by potentially raising their rates and reducing competition,” he says.

While this may be a long-term consequence, a TikTok ban will be “great” for advertisers over the short term, says Sean Frank, the CEO of accessories brand Ridge. That’s because Meta and Google are more effective than TikTok at driving sales from digital ads, in Frank’s experience, and the ban could send a “flow of users” from TikTok to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. “There'll be a whole new group of users with a lot of watchtime now falling into a better mousetrap because Meta and Google are the best advertising platforms ever.”

Though Meta would be the obvious winner of a TikTok ban, Frank thinks Snapchat could be a close second. Gen Z are already big Snapchat users and therefore may spend more time on it after a TikTok ban, he says.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel certainly wouldn’t complain about a TikTok-free America. Last year, he said he would “love” a TikTok ban, which could help strengthen his company’s lackluster ads business.

Meanwhile, Meta’s various properties continue to copy TikTok. For example, Instagram just tweaked Reels to show users more videos of topics they’ve already shown an interest in, but from creators they don’t already follow. TikTok has long had a similar feature. In discussing the change, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said he hopes “smaller creators start to see the benefits over the coming months.”

Of course, there is another possibility if TikTok goes away—that people end up spending less time on their phones. “If someone’s not using Twitch today, and they’re a TikTok user, will they just automatically switch to Twitch?” asks Tammy Madsen, a management professor at Santa Clara University who specializes in competitive strategy. “That’s not automatic. These companies existed prior to TikTok, and [some] users were not interested in the platforms.”

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Alexandra Sternlicht

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Today's edition of Data Sheet was written by David Meyer.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com