TikTok: Tale Of Bans In India And US

Author

Adrija Bose
January 22, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

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The last few weeks have been dominated by the anxiety and protests of American TikTok creators. Headlines, think pieces, and endless social media debates dissect the possibility of a TikTok ban in the U.S. While the platform's immediate future seems secured through negotiations, its long-term survival is uncertain. Yet, for now, it appears TikTok is working to ensure American creators are not deprived of their platform.

For many of us in India, this moment feels like déjà vu. But it’s also a sharp reminder of how differently the TikTok ban unfolded here. Unlike the outrage we see in the U.S., India’s 2020 ban on TikTok was met with silence. Activists, critics, and media largely ignored the fallout for creators. And the creators themselves—often marginalised, non-English-speaking individuals from India’s hinterlands—had no voice, no platform to fight back.

I met Sumita Sikdar, a creator from Bengal, who found her footing on TikTok, in 2021, a year after the Chinese app was banned in India. Without a smartphone, she borrowed her mother’s device to upload her first video. Overnight, her life transformed: her video amassed over 100,000 likes, and her DMs filled with requests for more. TikTok gave Sumita a sense of personal agency, a rare luxury for a woman in her socio-economic position. "I wasn’t looking to be famous. I started making videos because it was fun,” she told me. 

By 2019, platforms like Instagram and YouTube had long dominated influencer culture in India, catering to affluent, English-speaking creators. These were individuals with access to iPhones, studio lighting, and glamorous international backdrops—an elite tier Sumita could never access.

TikTok was different. It democratised fame, allowing anyone with talent, regardless of their background, to find an audience.

Over three years, Sumita gained more than 600,000 followers on TikTok. But when the app was banned on June 29, 2020, she lost not just her followers but her primary source of income.

The government’s decision to ban TikTok, citing data security concerns, came amid escalating tensions with China. The app, which boasted 200 million users in India, disappeared overnight, along with 58 other Chinese apps. 

For creators like Sumita, it was devastating. "I cried a lot," she admitted. "It felt like all my effort had gone to waste. But what can I say? It’s a matter of the country."

After TikTok’s exit, Sumita attempted to rebuild her online presence on Instagram Reels and several TikTok clones like Josh, Roposo, and MX TakaTak. While she managed to gain some traction on Instagram—amassing 55,000 followers—her income dried up. With TikTok, she earned enough to support her family when her husband, an auto-rickshaw driver, was out of work. On Instagram, however, her efforts led to just one promotional offer: an Ayurvedic hair oil brand that paid her ₹500 and a free bottle for two videos.

You can read the detailed story on Sumita here. 

Marketing agencies I had spoken admitted that the influencer economy on platforms like Instagram remains deeply classist. Creators from urban centers with fluent English, the latest gadgets, and polished aesthetics continue to dominate brand collaborations. For someone like Sumita, whose basic Android phone struggles to keep up with Instagram’s features, competing feels impossible.

While Reels has emerged as the closest alternative to TikTok, it has yet to replicate TikTok’s magic: a unique “democratisation-of-fame phenomenon” that allowed creators from marginalised backgrounds to dream big. 

Four years later, Sumita is still chasing that dream. She has aspirations of appearing in films or television but, more urgently, wants to secure a livelihood to improve her children’s lives.

Globally, TikTok remains a political flashpoint. From the U.S. to Nepal, several countries have flirted with bans, citing concerns ranging from data security to social harmony. Yet most of these bans have been temporary. India’s ban stands out as a permanent measure in a democratic nation. 

While countries like the U.S. debate the app’s future with widespread public involvement, India’s decision was unilateral, its impact on marginalised creators largely ignored.

Sumita’s story is one among thousands. TikTok was a rare platform where creators from underprivileged backgrounds could rise above systemic barriers. Its absence has left a void no Indian app has been able to fill. For Sumita and many like her, the TikTok ban wasn’t just about losing a platform—it was about losing a lifeline.

And as history shows, no one really protests for the marginalised.

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