Tik-Tok and the show stops

And Just like than another one joins the heaven for apps that were once really important. Just yesterday the U.S.A. has joined India in banning the Chinese owned app amid speculation of privacy concerns. But the reason why it's more important news now because the biggest Tik-Tok creators were Americans, like Charli and Dixie D'amelio, Addison Rae and even pop stars like Jason Durelo. 

What is Tik-Tok?

If you don't exactly know what Tik-Tok is here is a quick summary: It is video sharing application which allows content creators to make (usually) 15 seconds worth of content ranging from Dances to Comedy to lip-syncs and a whole lot more. However an application called Vine was actually the first variant of this type which was shut down in 2013. From that time onwards there has been attempts to recreate it's success in the forms of applications called Dubsmash and Musical.ly but only Tik-Tok has come close to the influence of Vine. 

Why are countries banning this application?

However this Chinese owned establishment has been under serious criticism due to privacy concerns and origin of the app which has been fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Indo-China border situation. India first took the step of banning this among 59 other Chinese apps back in June of 2020. America has now joined India. Another reason that has cropped up for the banning of this app is because some of the content is not politically correct and can be viewed as Racist or even Anti-Semetic.

My Experience and take on this application:

So during the deep and dark days of lockdown and I finally succumbed and gave in. I downloaded this app which had an aura of cringe induced comedy and disgusting E-girls. but, I kid you not, this application is the best thing I have ever seen or used. I spent hours on this app daily because the content was actually spectacular. I even partook in the festivities and made a couple Tik-Tok's of my own and OH MY GOD did I enjoy myself. I was really really bummed it got banned because it had literally become a part of me. However I do understand it, in respect of the underlying reason it banned the app not for the reasons that were officially stated. Some of the problems that come with living in a democracy is that people abuse their right of free speech. People feel the need that by making dark and controversial comedy it gains more attention, which it unfortunately does. However this isn't a problem that only Tik-Tok has. Any social media application that allows people to express themselves will always have a corner where they would find these type of like-minded individuals. And if they want to change that they need to focus on the educational aspects of people and also to what type of stuff they are exposed to. 

The underlying issue is clearly due to the border disputes which I can understand and respect. 

However I'll still miss this application for all it's 'renegade' and 'I'm a Savage' and giving a lot of individuals a place to truly be themselves and get recognized for it. Instagram has made an attempt to recreate it with their "Reel" feature that was introduced in a recent software update but with experience I can say that it's not even half the application Tik-Tok is/was.