India’s TikTok stars, left in lurch by ban, seek alternative apps as they count cost of China tensions

More than three months after India banned the Chinese video-sharing app, a successor has yet to emerge to claim its crown in the country

This vacuum has left former TikTok content creators scratching their heads – and searching for an alternative to a once 600 million-strong Indian user base

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 4:45pm, 11 Oct 2020Updated: 2:54pm, 15 Oct 2020

Shivani Kapila was in for a shock on June 29 when, after spending two years amassing 11 million followers on TikTok, she suddenly found herself locked out of her account as the Indian government began a crackdown on Chinese apps, citing security concerns.

The 26-year-old from the small town of Surat in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat had left her career in human resources to become an influencer, offering lighthearted commentary on social issues, only to see her burgeoning career wiped out in an instant amid rising tensions between New Delhi and Beijing.

“For me, TikTok was my mother. I saw my dreams become reality because of TikTok,” Kapila said. “With TikTok, for the first time, I realised I could chase my passion … Now all was gone in a click.”

The Indian government has now banned more than 200 Chinese apps but TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, was by far the most popular, with more than 600 million users in India. It grew so large that 14 of the country’s regional languages had been added to the app at the time of the ban, to allow a wide variety of content creators like Kapila to hare their localised video content.

Its blacklisting seemingly offered both domestic and foreign players the perfect opportunity to capitalise, but no platform has yet successfully filled the void.

Influencers with no influence

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