You have steadfastly ignored the elephant in the room if you do not yet know about the YouTube-TikTok fiasco that's been going on since May 8, 2020. Netizens have managed to bring down TikTok's ratings to a staggering 1.3 stars from 4.8 on the Google Play Store in less than a week. This whole one-star rating is also being followed by the hashtags #bantiktok, #tiktokbaninIndia and more such hashtags trending on Twitter with people demanding a ban to be imposed on the video-sharing platform in India yet again.
All of this and the never-ending war between YouTube and TikTok owes its credit to basically two things — the controversial video titled YouTube vs TikTok: The End by popular YouTuber CarryMinati roasting TikTok star Amir Siddiqui and the situation was further escalated when TikToker Faizal Siddiqui posted a video endorsing acid attacks, leading to more poor ratings.
I personally feel it's quite complicated and this issue points to a larger picture posing a single question — who rules the video world? Let's break it down for you though.
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YouTubers roasting TikTok stars and vice versa is not a new phenomenon, it's been happening for quite some time now. It all became a big deal when YouTuber CarryMinati aka Ajay Negar published a video wherein he roasted Amir Siddiqui. This video garnered over 70 million views before being taken down by YouTube on May 14 on claims of 'violating terms of service'. As is with our extreme fan culture, CarryMinati's fan brigade took to the TikTok app listing to give one-star reviews to show their dislike for the platform and support for YouTube and its creators. This was further enabled by YouTube vs TikTok memes and battle content that is rife on both the video-sharing platforms.
However, this was taken up a notch after YouTube's removal of CarryMinati's video and the controversy regarding his homophobic comments towards the end of the video. While the roast was about TikTok vs YouTube, CarryMinati was criticised for taking jibes at the queer community under the garb of roasting TikTokers by using terms such as meetha and chhakka. This, obviously, didn’t go down well with the queer community. The video was widely reported by the community. Soon after which the video was taken down and CarryMinati put up a public clarification stating that certain parts of his video were taken out of context. He asked fans for their support and urged that the video should not be misused. This led to the trending hashtag #
Sadly, this wasn't the end of the war. As if CarryMinati's fan brigade wasn't already enough, TikTok found itself in a soup with a brand new controversy when a video from Faizal Siddiqui (brother of Amir Siddiqui) surfaced online. The video, now viral on all social media platforms, has been called out for glorifying acid attacks on women. Faizal, however, has defended the video, claiming it has been misrepresented. "My intention was never to hurt anyone in any capacity. As a social media influencer, I realise my responsibility and apologise to anyone who was offended by the video," Faizal wrote on his official Instagram account. The TikTok video has received severe backlash and has further pushed people to underrate the app both on play store and Apple's App Store.
"Keeping people on TikTok safe is a top priority and we make it clear in our Term of Service and Community Guidelines that clearly outlines what is not acceptable on our platform. As per the policy, we do not allow content that risks the safety of others, promotes physical harm or glorifies violence against women. The behaviour in question violates our guidelines and we have taken down content, suspended the account, and are working with law enforcement agencies as appropriate," TikTok spokesperson told Edex responding to the Faizal's controversy.
This is not the first time TikTok has come under the scanner in India. TikTok, owned by a Chinese company called Bytedance, was taken down in several states across the country for it was found promoting offensive and derogatory content on its platform. It eventually returned to both Google Play Store and App Store and it still has 200 million users in India alone.
