The good, the bad and the algorithm: What banning TikTok could do to Colorado creators
TikTok has become a gathering space for all kinds of niche interests, but with a looming ban, local creators and consumers fear they could lose access to their communities.
Shannon Mullane/The Colorado Sun
Teal Lehto launched her TikTok career with a 2-minute video about drought in the West. There was no dancing, no memes, no catchy soundbites. Just Lehto, speaking honestly and sounding slightly annoyed.
“When people talk about climate anxiety, I think they imagine a young woman like me being like ‘Oh no! The polar bears,’ but it’s an actual gripping fear about what will my life look like in this area 50 years from now,” Lehto said. “So I made that video and I posted it.”
The video performed well — it has since its 2022 launch gathered nearly 50,000 likes and 1,700 comments — and Lehto kept posting on her profile, @westernwatergirl, partially out of spite.
“I’m really frustrated with the way that things are happening in the Colorado River Basin,” said Lehto, who posts from her home in Durango. “I have been since I was in college, but I consistently get told that I need more degrees, or that I’m being naive, or that I’m imagining a utopia. When in reality I’m just asking people to question the way things are. That will always keep motivating me.”
Read more from Parker Yamasaki at ColoradoSun.com
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The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization dedicated to covering the people, places and policies that matter in Colorado. Read more, sign up for free newsletters and subscribe at ColoradoSun.com.
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