I was triggered last night when somebody used Tiktok content of my friend for his Youtube video, and hurled abuses at him and others. Having mitigated the crisis with the help of other friends, I felt the urgent need for writing about TikTok.
Lockdown season has encouraged many people to try new from the app world. While Tiktok isn’t a new app, like all others, it is seeing a surge in usage during quarantine summer. With anti-China sentiment growing stronger with the Corona outbreak, Tiktok is making it again to the headlines. Let me quickly take you into details of the whole drama around it, and you are free to make a judgment on your own.
TikTok Stats Tiktok mobile application is developed and owned by a Bytedance, a private company headquartered in Haidian, China. It was introduced back in 2017, taking over its predecessor & competitor Musical.ly a year later. The company is now the world’s biggest unlisted Unicorn valued for 90B-100B USD. It includes as many as 14 handsome investments, including those from American, Japanese & Chinese companies. It is found to have a higher engagement rate than Instagram & Twitter and has the most extensive user base in India. Based on that, it is debatable to call it a “Chinese App” per se. MNC’s nowadays surpass the national identities for multiple reasons, but that is for another discussion. Let us get directly into our topic.
Tiktok in India The enormous user base of Tiktok in India never went without notice. People are sharing their Tiktok videos everywhere. This exposure gave birth to a strong negative response, which has magnified during the Covid19 times. The primary reasons were different than the recent reasons. I could identify the following three leading sentiments of #boycotTiktok crowd:
- Homophobia
- Elitism
- Nationalism/Hatred for China
Let me take you through all of them one by one. Before that, it is essential to know these two things-
- Tiktok users come across all social strata, but the number of those coming from disadvantageous backgrounds is sheer overwhelming. Reason- Those who practice small occupations & not 8-10 hour jobs have more time at disposable.
- Tiktok is a single medium of expression. It mainly attracts those who are voiceless usually. This category includes housewives, poor folks, teenagers, LGBTQ persons, unemployed youngsters, etc. Tiktok is their shot at being famous, having the life they can only imagine. It is an online, hence a safer place for expression too.
Homophobia The most basic, widely shared sentiment for Tiktok criticism is Homophobia. Homophobia refers to hatred, disgust & apathy towards the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Queer) population. The Youtube post I mentioned, in the beginning, was nothing but a homophobic bashing of my friend, among others. It is no secret, check any post against Tiktok, and you will see bashing of the Queer folks or the Queer ways. Why is it so central to it?
This observation comes from my interaction in the LGBTQ community, from the Big Boss celebrities to those who are engaged in train collection & sex work. Being Queer is more acceptable in the lower caste-lower class of society and the Ultra high class. So, mass users of TikTok come from the lower strata of society with less respect for gender values, and many among them are LGBTQ persons.
Tiktok has come somehow come out as a medium where gender rules are drastically ignored. It is probably because of the Gen Z teenagers with their teen angst- both Gay & Straight have little to no regard for gender norms. (41% of Tiktok users come from the age group 16-24 years). It is also because Tiktok rose to popularity around the time Section 377 of IPC was decriminalized.
The LGBTQ people want to be visible, but there is no other platform producing as right an audience as Tiktok. That is because of its better ‘For You’ feature AI algorithm; and a crowd who is not crazy about gender norms. Tiktok, in my grandest of proclamations, has turned into a novel New York Ballroom. For those who don’t know, New York Ballroom used to be the only safe underground spaces where the Gay and Trans* population would come and compete in performing arts. It was there that the dance form of Voguing was invented, popularized by Madonna in her song “Vogue” released in 1990. India never had spaces like that, until the advent of the internet. No wonder, Tiktok is more Queer than any other social media platforms.
Who will have a problem with that?; Of course, the homophobes. The most vocal, election determining- middle class follows the gender roles, the patriarchal notions more strictly. The gender expression of the lower classes does not match their standards of masculinity. Then there is the LGBTQ community boldly showing its colors. This triggers the negativity against TikTok.
Elitism There are two types of people on Tiktok (or any other social media)- 1. Influencers & 2. Audience & Participants. A large segment of the latter part comes from disadvantaged classes. The popular content of TikTok, in general, lacks intellectual discourse. Then there are instances of people getting into accidents while making TikTok videos. For these reasons, it becomes easier to call out TikTok users as illiterate or dimwits.
Of course, one should not make a TikTok while driving, but people get into accidents while talking on phone calls as well. During this Corona outbreak, we have had instances of highly educated people running away from health scrutiny for nothing. If not TikTok, people will commit accidents doing other stuff.
It cannot be a valid reason for calling a ban on TikTok or looking down upon TikTokers (TikTok users). The people who do so, are those who prefer Twitter, Quora & Instagram as social media platforms. Their social & economic standing & education enables them to be ‘woke’ on such platforms. YouTubers included, you must know it takes high-speed internet, knowledge of video editing & relevant softwares and a lot of data, to upload anything on YouTube. Not everyone can afford to be a YouTuber.
Nationalism/Hatred for China In our country, the practice of Nationalism has come down to hating the same people or countries as the majority. There is always Pakistan as the perfect villain whom India can beat up, or China- little less perfect than Pakistan (Cause China is stronger Economy wise).
Now, there is a call to boycott TikTok because it is owned by a Chinese company. The people asking for such ban miss a crucial detail about the modern world- it’s a liberal economy with connected markets! If we compare each country with a ship and it’s economy with its sail, today, sails of all these ships are well connected. If one ship goes down, others will follow the path too. You do not need to be an economist to understand that.
Besides, the gay community cannot afford to lose such an empowering platform of self-expression! Grindr, the most widely used gay dating app is also owned by a Chinese company. There is no end if we start a boycott spree.
So the abovementioned were some of the factors, in my opinion, which lead to call for a boycott against Tiktok. for me, all of them are 100% invalid. What do you think about it? Do not forget to leave your comment and start a dialogue.