ROCHESTER, N.Y. — TikTok's time may be running out in the United States. The government is debating whether to ban the app for national security reasons.

That's causing a backlash among entrepreneurs who make a living off delivering content through it.

Like many people her age, Hope Breen loves TikTok.

But for her, it’s not just a social media app. It’s turned into her career.

Breen interned with Visit Rochester in 2017, showing visitors what the city has to offer.

“I worked 80 hours at the Lilac Festival at the visitors booth, and then once that ended, I was like, 'wait, I really enjoyed telling people about things to do in Rochester.'”

She runs the page "Roc the City with Hope," gaining almost 24,000 followers since she started it in 2020.

“When the shutdown happened, that’s when my account took off," said Breen. "I think because people couldn’t travel and needed to appreciate their hometown."

Her content is branded as helping locals become tourists. The account features everything from highlighting local restaurants to following the app’s latest trends. But the most popular ones always feature garbage plates.

Congress is currently debating bills that could ban the app. One of their main concerns is the app's collection of data from users.

Breen watched the hearings. She understands some of their points, like not being able to access the app while students are at school or on government phones.

“But going forward and seeing that they are looking at banning it from individual phones, I think that it's a huge infringement on our freedom of speech and our ability to connect with people through the internet," said Breen.

If the app gets banned, she plans to move her content to a different platform. But there’s something about the community she’s built on TikTok that will be hard to replace.