In India, a country of 1.4 billion people, TikTok took just a few years to build an audience of 200 million users. India was its biggest market. Then, on June 29, 2020, the Indian government banned TikTok, along with 58 other Chinese apps, after a simmering conflict between India and China erupted into violence on their border.
A popular form of entertainment, which had not been the subject of political debate, disappeared overnight. Now, as politicians tussle in Washington over a plan that could shut down access for 170 million Americans who use TikTok, the example set by India offers a taste of what might happen — and how the public might respond. and other social media companies that feed them.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, came early to India, building a broad base in 2017 in dozens of the country’s languages. Its content — short videos — tended to be homemade and hyperlocal. An endless stream of home productions, many filmed in small towns or farms and set to popular music, helped pass the hours on the world’s cheapest and fastest-growing mobile data network. As in the United States, TikTok has become a platform for entrepreneurial extroverts to build businesses.
Veer Sharma was 26 when the music stopped. He had amassed seven million followers on TikTok, where he posted videos of himself and his friends lip-syncing and joking to Hindi film songs. He was the son of a fired miller from the central Indian city of Indore and had just finished formal schooling. His achievements on TikTok filled him with pride. He felt “beyond happy” when people recognized him on the street.
They were also glad to see him. Once, Mr. Sharma said, “an elderly couple met me and said they would watch my show before bed, for a laugh.” He was told that his “show was an escape from the drudgery of their daily lives.”
With his new stardom, Mr. Sharma earned 100,000 rupees, about $1,200, a month. He bought a Mercedes. After being banned in 2020, he barely had time to make one last video for his fans. “Our times together will end soon and I don’t know how or when we will be able to meet again,” he told them.
“Then, I cried and cried,” she said.
However, short videos, including many retained by TikTok and uploaded to other sites that are not banned, continue to attract Indians.
India’s online life soon adjusted to TikTok’s absence. Meta’s Instagram came in with its Reels and Alphabet’s YouTube with Shorts, both products similar to TikTok, and converted many of the influencers and eyeballs that had gone dormant.
The services were popular. But something got lost along the way, experts said. Much of the charm of India’s TikTok never found a new home. It became harder for small creators to get discovered.
Nikhil Pahwa, a digital policy analyst in New Delhi, traces the overall shift away from TikTok’s “algorithms, special sauce,” which was “much more tailored to Indian content” than the types used by the US giants that succeeded it. .
Several Indian companies have tried to step into the void caused by the disappearance of Chinese competition. But America’s tech giants, with their deeper pockets and expanding global audience, have come to dominate India. The country is now the largest market for both YouTube (nearly 500 million monthly users) and Instagram (362 million), with nearly twice as many users as both in the United States, though earning far less revenue per consumer.
India’s decision to cut off its population from TikTok was as sudden as the US efforts, which began in 2020, have been. But the motivation was similar — and even more dramatic. While the United States and China are engaged in a new kind of cold war for economic dominance, India and China have had troops on their borders since 1962. In 2020, this frozen conflict has turned hot. In a night of violent hand-to-hand combat, 20 Indian soldiers were killed, along with at least four Chinese, which China has never officially confirmed.
Two weeks later, India disabled TikTok. The app disappeared from the Google and Apple stores and its website was blocked. Until then, India was used to blocking objectionable websites and even shutting down mobile data in entire regions in the name of maintaining public order.
There were few other signs of retaliation from India, but this action caught the attention of the public. The list of Chinese apps India has banned continues to grow, now at 509, according to Mr Pahwa.
By then, India’s internet had presented an open market to China. Unlike India’s domestic media companies, tech startups have been free to receive investment from China and other countries. TikTok was only the most popular among dozens of Chinese games and services distributed to Indians online.
Since at least 2017, after a similar border skirmish, the possibility that Chinese consumer technology could threaten India’s sovereignty has been circulating in national security circles.
Indian officials had expressed concern that Chinese apps could provide Beijing with a powerful messaging tool in India’s noisy media environment. Just two months before the ban, India announced new restrictions on investment from any country “sharing a land border with India”. Technically, this would apply to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan. But China was understood to be the real target.
On June 29, 2020, the official order that blocked TikTok and dozens of lesser-known Chinese services did not specifically mention China, nor the bloody border battle. Instead, the measure was described as a matter of “data security and safeguarding the privacy” of Indian citizens from “elements inimical to India’s national security and defence”.
In subsequent years, the Indian government used the rationale of maintaining the “security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace” to dictate terms even to US technology companies. He has complained to Apple and Twitter, as well as Meta and Google, at times to prevent speech critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party.
But the government bore no grudge against TikTok influencers. After the ban came into effect, the BJP contacted Mr. Sharma, who said he had become depressed. Between the loss of his income and his reputation, he felt his “world falling apart.” He had already been contacted by Moj, a Bangalore-based TikTok rival. Mr Sharma’s career and income rebounded after he posted a clip with his state chief and started making promotional videos with other BJP office holders. He feels proud now to help further Mr Modi’s political agenda.
Another TikTokker who was temporarily “broken” by the ban was Ulhas Kamathe, a 44-year-old father from Mumbai. He somehow achieved a moment of international fame by devouring platters of chicken while muttering “piece of chicken leg” with his mouth full, an instant meme. After losing nearly seven million TikTok followers overnight, she says she’s bounced back — finding five million on YouTube, four million on Instagram and three million on Facebook.
“For the past three years, I’ve been rebuilding without any help — by myself,” he said.
