India’s Obsession & Lame Desire To Ban Tik Tok.

Tiktok is an immensely popular video sharing platform especially in tier 2 and tier 3 Indian cities. While it comes with its share of drawbacks and cringes it definitely has a plethora of positives. The recent Indian outrage of banning and downrating the app on the Internet is pretty lame, In my opinion.

The Trigger!

Everything looked fine until Indian Youtuber CarryMinati made a video titled YouTube Vs Tiktok which went viral like a Mig 21 and broke several YouTube records and became the most liked video, fastest video to reach a certain million views, got the highest number of comments etc. In that video, CarryMinati roasted a Tiktoker called Aamir Siddiqui. Now, CarryMinati has a peculiar style of presentation wherein he goes all in while roasting a particular person. By “all in’’ I mean every roast video of CarryMinati can be called a crash course in desi abuses. I don’t have a problem with cuss words. It’s a part of everyone’s life but it is Carry’s USP and his patrons love it like anything.

So, YouTube decided to take down the video and didn’t even care to explain and that my friends did not go well with his fans. This worked as a fuel to an already hated app and people went berserk. They took CarryMinati’s side and the Internet was full of Ban Tiktok, downrating the app on play store, online petitions, memes and other kinds of comparative posts.

Getting popular on TikTok is fairly fast compared to YouTube because of the video length. The Chinese app allows video up to one minute while YouTube is more of a long format thing and is a bigger platform for serious creators. So this was also one of the points being peddled amongst the fans and the content creators. However, Both the platforms are a tool to earn money by getting popular.

The Cringe!

Talking about the cringe on Tik Tok; it’s mostly because the app has penetrated tier 3 and tier 2 cities extremely fast. It gave a platform to the people in villages, and small cities to express themselves and provided a change in their mundane life. And like we all know people are habituated to abuse things they get for free the same happened with the app as well. The inherent desire to get popular made them do almost everything. For example, males dressing like females and making videos, using chemicals to bring tears in their eyes and whatnot. Browse the app and experience for yourself.

But then, this also segregated the creamy layer i.e. genuinely talented people from that stratum wanting to break free or just be different.

The Positives!

If you keep aside the Cringe, TikTok is a fantastic marketing tool & a platform that lets you learn almost anything under one minute. Be it cooking, working out, diet tips, skincare, share trading. Name the topic and you will have a video on the platform much like YouTube. You just need to follow the right accounts. Now people who create these are mostly from tier 1 cities or new media entrepreneurs who know how to make the most of it.

And perhaps, they are the ones who dislike the popularity of tier 3 and 2 people and call their videos cringy. They will do the same thing ie. dance on a trending video or old 90’s song but if someone from tier 3 or tier 2 does it’s deemed as cringy which is not justified.

Everyone should be treated equally and has the fundamental rights of the same opportunity and popularity.

All the big Bollywood names are on TikTok using it smartly to keep up with their fans while spending just one minute.

I had not installed TikTok for a very long time because I had a similar feeling about the app that its nothing but cringe. But when I needed to market my brand Digital Commentary a non-fiction infotainment platform; I installed the app to see how it works around six months back and was amazed by the marketing and content strategy capabilities within the app.

The videos of what people call cringe has a different definition for me. I call it a stress buster. Watch those videos for ten minutes and see how it elevates your mood.

I have been religiously spending at least fifteen mins on TikTok every day before sleep and this not only makes me smile (sometimes laugh really hard) but has also helped me learn many things. For instance cooking.

The Negatives!

Sometimes foolish creators go to extreme levels to shoot a video for Tik Tok which results in a fatality. According to a website www.tiktokdeath.com, there has been 52 deaths and 30 injuries while shooting Tik Tok videos. The latest being the death of a Telangana youth who fell into the stream and drowned in September 2019.

Spreading fake news and shaping political narratives is another deadly drawback of this platform. And I totally agree with a friend’s suggestion who read the article and said that Tiktok should be regulated under strict state laws. He also added that this platform is the most fertile ground for fake messaging to propagate. The recent example is the spread of communal hate in India during the COVID19 Pandemic. The short attention span is the perfect instrument to make anything viral and thus helps in impulsive crimes like mob lynching.

So, keeping it short -

Tiktok is a brilliant platform for everyone and people are free to use it as they please. It acts as a starting ground for people wanting to pursue acting but unaware about how to go about it. It has helped talented people like Baba Jackson the dancer to showcase his talent and reach bigger avenues. It helps Indian housewives cope with boredom and opens many more avenues for all kinds of people. But one should definitely avoid risking life for a video.

Now coming back to why people want to ban it?

These are people who are jealous of not being able to become like them and hence, call it cringy. I am sure they secretly watch TikTok every day and curse themselves for not being able to be like them and then speak ill about the TikTokers on the Internet but guess what, those people have zero fucks to give because they are busy doing things that make them happy. And when you no longer care you are bound to rise in whatsoever manner.

So, people need to think and reflect before starting online petitions, downrating the app or sharing memes against the app citing it’s a Chinese product.

I mean common, are you seriously linking covid19 to Tik Tok?

So, enjoy the app and let everyone do what they want — kyunki as Sanjay Mishra in his 2020 film Kamyaab said— “Bas Enjoying Life Aur Option Hi Kya Hai”. So, Enjoy and Let People.