On the morning of June 29, 2020, India woke up to an absence it didn’t yet know how to name. For 200 million users, TikTok was gone.
With the ban, livelihoods built on creativity and connection evaporated overnight. Creators scrambled to make sense of the void.
And now, as the USA flirts with the idea of potentially banning TikTok, it’s impossible not to draw parallels.
The story of TikTok in India was one of unlikely stardom. It wasn’t the polished, aspirational India of Instagram influencers or Bollywood elites that took to the platform.
It was the loud, messy, glorious India that rarely got its spotlight. Rural and working-class creators, often overlooked and underestimated, suddenly discovered they could be more than the punchline to a joke.
They could be the storytellers, the protagonists, the stars.
With its simple interface and hyper-local content, TikTok democratized fame in a way that no platform had before. Even mid-tier creators could rake in $200 to $1200 a month through brand deals and shoutouts—an income leap that was nothing short of life-changing.
For context, the average daily wage for a laborer in rural India at the time was around ₹300 ($4), or roughly $120 per month.
The same questions that haunted India’s TikTok creators then, now loom over their American counterparts:
What happens when you take a cultural phenomenon and make it illegal? What happens to the millions of lives that depend on its ecosystem? And what happens when, for once, the last in line got their shot—only to see the stage dismantled beneath their feet?
Before we dive deeper into what this could mean, let’s take a closer look at the TikTok phenomenon.
How TikTok managed to democratize fame
TikTok’s genius is in its accessibility. The app is a lightweight powerhouse that can run smoothly on the cheapest of smartphones—a necessity in countries like India, where most people can’t afford high-end devices.
Its interface is intuitive, designed so even first-time internet users can create, edit, and post a video in minutes.
At the heart of TikTok’s success is its revolutionary algorithm, which made fame achievable for anyone.
TikTok vs other algorithms
Unlike platforms like Instagram, where follower counts dictate visibility, TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) served up content purely based on user engagement. This meant that a creator with zero followers could go viral if their content resonated with the audience.
The algorithm tracked how long users watched a video, whether they liked or shared it, and even how quickly they scrolled past. This behavioral data allowed TikTok to fine-tune its recommendations, delivering an endless stream of content perfectly tailored to individual tastes.
In contrast, Instagram rewards creators with polished visuals and a pre-existing network of followers. YouTube demands long-form content and optimized production to push videos into its algorithm. TikTok stripped away these barriers. With just creativity and a smartphone, anyone could reach millions.
The stories TikTok made possible
In India, TikTok became the digital village square. Its short-form videos, often in regional languages, mirrored the everyday lives of its creators.
Yuvraj Singh, known to his millions of fans as Baba Jackson, was one of those stars. Yuvraj grew up as the son of a construction worker who worked long, grueling hours to provide for the family. They lived in a modest house with uneven floors, where Yuvraj practiced his moonwalks, mimicking videos he watched online.
But TikTok saw what no one else had—his talent, raw and electrifying—and sent it to screens across the globe. Celebrities noticed. Television producers called. And suddenly, the boy who danced for his neighbors was performing for a nation.
TikTok didn’t discriminate. Jaydeep Gohil, a swimmer from Gujarat, discovered that his underwater dancing—an unusual combination of grace and athleticism—could captivate an audience. Known as Hydroman, he used the app to showcase his aquatic artistry, turning an invisible niche into a celebrated talent.
Then there was Moni Kundu, a homemaker who posted comedic sketches with her son. She didn’t need a studio or professional lighting; the humor in her videos was enough. TikTok became her platform to tell stories and earn money, a small but transformative addition to her household income.
In the United States too, TikTok has played a similar role.
Taylor Cassidy, a teenager from Missouri, used TikTok to teach “Fast Black History” in one-minute bursts. She shared stories of Black figures that textbooks overlooked. Lance Tsosie, a Navajo creator known as @modern_warrior__, turned the app into a platform for his people. He shared Indigenous traditions and addressed systemic injustices.
In both countries, TikTok has not been about who you are but about what you can create, what you can say. For millions, TikTok has been an opportunity – one that rewrote the rules of visibility and fame.
So, what happened to India’s creators after TikTok?
When TikTok was banned in India on June 29, 2020, it was as if an entire ecosystem had been shut off with the flick of a switch. Overnight, 200 million users and countless creators lost access to the platform.
Many tried migrating to Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, but these platforms demanded something TikTok never did: polish, resources, and a pre-existing audience.
“TikTok made me strong and confident. I started wearing Western clothes, dancing on the streets … I am disappointed,” Geetha Sridhar, an Indian TikTok creator, told AlJazeera. The 54-year-old homemaker never entered her kitchen without her smartphone.
On TikTok, she posted dozens of short videos daily, mostly showcasing her traditional recipes. With one million followers, Geetha earned an average of 50,000 rupees (nearly $662) a month from the social media platform.
Comedians, dancers, and influencers who had once built audiences of millions found themselves back in local jobs or small businesses, unable to replicate their success elsewhere. Without TikTok’s unique ability to spotlight creators regardless of their starting point, many saw their earnings dwindle to nothing.
The economic fallout rippled across. Mid-tier influencers who had been earning $200 to $1200 per month suddenly lost their primary source of income. A study by RedSeer Consulting estimated that India’s creator economy shrank by over 15% following the ban, with no clear roadmap for recovery.
But, what about other social media platforms?
After TikTok vanished from India, a scramble began—not just for creators trying to save their livelihoods, but for platforms racing to replace the app that had rewritten the rules of fame.
Moj, Chingari, Josh—names that meant little before June 2020—emerged almost overnight as the country’s homegrown answers to the TikTok-shaped hole. They promised familiarity. They promised opportunity. And for a moment, it seemed like they might succeed.
Moj, developed by ShareChat, quickly became the poster child for India’s TikTok alternatives, boasting over 50 million downloads within weeks.
Chingari branded itself as a “local alternative,” catering to regional audiences with live streaming and vernacular language options.
Josh, backed by the media giant Dailyhunt, leveraged partnerships with top influencers to build momentum. But behind the fanfare and download numbers, cracks began to show.
Why these platforms fell short
1. Algorithmic Weakness – TikTok’s algorithm was a masterpiece, curating personalized content that felt intuitive and engaging. Moj and Chingari’s recommendations often felt generic, leading to lower user engagement and creator frustration.
2. Audience Fragmentation – TikTok unified creators and audiences across India, breaking barriers between regions and languages. Local alternatives split users across multiple apps, diluting creator reach and content visibility.
3. Global Disadvantage: TikTok offered Indian creators a global stage, connecting them with audiences and opportunities worldwide. Moj and Chingari remained focused on domestic markets, limiting creators’ growth and international exposure.
The shift to international platforms
Many creators abandoned local alternatives for Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, drawn by:
> Larger User Bases: These platforms offered global reach that Indian alternatives couldn’t match.
> Better Monetization Opportunities: Brand collaborations and ad revenue streams were more lucrative on these platforms.
But it did not always work out.
Challenges with the Transition:
> High Production Standards: Reels and Shorts demanded polished, professional content, which alienated creators who thrived on TikTok’s raw authenticity.
> Algorithmic Bias: Instagram favored established creators with large followings, leaving smaller creators—once TikTok’s champions—struggling to regain visibility.
> Fewer monetization opportunities: Unlike Instagram, where creators rely solely on brand deals for income, TikTok offered multiple ways to monetize content directly. Through the Creator Fund, live-streaming gifts, and other in-app monetization tools, TikTok had turned creativity into a tangible income stream.
Even smaller creators could earn between $200 and $1200 a month, an amount that made a significant difference, especially in rural areas.
Lessons for the USA from India’s TikTok Ban
TikTok is the great equalizer of the digital age—a place where a Black teenager in Atlanta can start a viral dance trend, a small business in Kansas can sell out in hours, and Indigenous creators can turn a spotlight on centuries-old traditions.
It is precisely this fragile ecosystem that is at risk as the United States toys with the idea of banning TikTok, and India’s own ban in 2020 provides a sobering preview of what might come.
India’s TikTok ban swept away a community of 200 million users in one night. In the U.S., the potential fallout looks eerily similar but with stakes magnified by TikTok’s deeply entrenched role in American culture and commerce.
TikTok is home to 170 million U.S. users, a majority of them young. Over 62% of its audience is aged 10 to 29—a generation that has never known a world without social media.
Should the United states go ahead with the ban, it will do well to remember these lessons from India:
1) Marginalized voices will struggle to be heard
In India, TikTok’s ban silenced rural comedians, small-town dancers, and regional voices, leaving them to compete on platforms where urban elites dominated. The U.S. risks a similar fate.
Black creators, who drive viral trends, and Indigenous voices, who use TikTok to share resilience and culture, could lose their most accessible platform. Without TikTok, these communities will navigate algorithms that prioritize polished content and corporate narratives, leaving their stories unheard.
2) Small businesses will lose their secret weapon
India’s small businesses lost a low-cost marketing tool when TikTok disappeared. In the U.S., minority-owned small businesses and young entrepreneurs rely on TikTok’s precision to reach niche audiences. Without it, the handcrafted soap or vintage sweatshirt finds no buyer, and small-town businesses are pushed toward pricier platforms that demand more resources, erasing their ability to compete.
3) No platform can replace TikTok’s magic
India’s Moj and Chingari tried to replace TikTok but failed to replicate its algorithmic magic. In the U.S., there are no equivalents—just Instagram and YouTube, where the rules are different. Their algorithms reward resources and status, not raw creativity. The small-town dancer or single mother sharing cooking tutorials will be eclipsed by the polished and privileged, their charm no longer enough.
4) Communities will fracture, never to be the same
TikTok unified creators and audiences in one shared space. In India, its ban fractured this community, scattering users across platforms and breaking the connection between creators and their followers. In the U.S., TikTok’s subcultures—niche fandoms, comedy accounts, and grassroots movements—exist as ecosystems that cannot be rebuilt elsewhere. Once they are gone, they are unlikely to return.
A stark choice
India’s experience should serve as a cautionary tale for the U.S., a reminder that banning TikTok is not just a decision about national security but a choice that could dismantle cultural movements, devastate small businesses, and silence millions of voices that have just begun to be heard. The better solution lies not in erasure but in regulation, in creating a framework that addresses data concerns while preserving the app’s ability to connect, amplify, and democratize.
Because the lesson of India’s ban is this: TikTok was a promise—one that was broken overnight.
The post The TikTok Ban in India Changed Everything—Here’s What the USA Should Learn appeared first on jeffbullas.com.
* This article was originally published here
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