Well, as much as I love opensource and federated solutions - TikTok, YT, Instagram etc. work quite well because people get paid for views and by sponsoring content. Getting paid for sponsoring content requires a huge follower base. On a platform where people won't get paid for the content will keep a niche. Sure, mostly the niche content provides more value, more insights but also more targets a niche user base and not the mainstream. Several people ditched their jobs for being an influencer and it often works out pretty well. Why should these people switch to something else? Why I'm telling this - just because of:

"If you’re a new creator and you’ve been trying to grow your #TikTok platform, don’t!"

Imho, if you want to contribute, like in opensource and bring in value for the community - yes you're right. But if you want to make money, TikTok & Co is probably the better way.

Just my 2 cheap cents...