Popular short-video sharing platform TikTok has been getting 1-star opinions on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, largely from Indian customers, over the previous few days. This comes after the app has been dealing with a number of controversies and extreme backlash among the many customers. A flood of 1-star score introduced down the app rankings from 4.5 stars to just 1.3 stars on Google Play Store in only a few days. There are few who’re even requesting a complete ban of the app within the nation. Nevertheless, TikTok nonetheless has a 4.8-star score on the Apple App Store, which isn’t shocking considering the smaller user base of iPhones in India.
On May 8th, 2020— CarryMinati publishes the ‘YouTube vs TikTok: The End’ video
Going into the details concerning the controversies, it began when Indian YouTuber CarryMinati recently published ‘YouTube vs TikTok: The End’ video, wherein he roasted TikTok creator Amir Siddiqui. This video obtained help from various corners, thereby creating a rift between each the platforms.
On May 14th, 2020 — YouTube removes CarryMinati’s video
The video gained tens of millions of views however was later removed by YouTube because it was claimed to be ‘violation of terms of service’ of the video platform. This triggered followers of the YouTuber to give poor ratings to TikTok to point out additional support for him. This slowly led to a YouTube vs TikTok tiff and #BanTikTokIndia and #tiktokexposed hashtags started trending on social media.
On May 18th, 2020 — Faizal Siddiqui publishes acid attack video on TikTok
Faizal Siddiqui, brother of Amir Siddiqui, is accused of posting a video glorifying acid assaults on girls. Whereas he defended the video saying that it was misrepresented, the video obtained severe backlash. The video was not removed by TikTok instantly, which seemed to have additional added gas to the backlash in the direction of the app. This additionally led users to leave 1-star ratings for TikTok on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
On May 20th,2020 — TikTok bans Faizal Siddiqui’s account
TikTok banned Faizal Siddiqui’s account after receiving a number of reports about the acid assault video, and mentioned that it was working with law enforcement regarding the matter. In the meantime, TikTok’s rating dropped additional right down to 1.3 on Google Play Store.
It appears the controversy surrounding the two video platforms will proceed in the intervening time. The short-video sharing app has amassed two billion downloads globally, with India as its biggest market with 611 million downloads. It even hired Disney’s head of streaming Kevin Mayer as its CEO earlier this week. Nevertheless, this YouTube vs TikTok concern may damage the company’s plans to develop additional within the Indian market.
