Ro's Recz

There was a recent article in the WSJ titled “Is There Life After a TikTok Ban? A Nation Goes into Withdrawal.” The article talks about India’s ban on TikTok (because of privacy concerns with China), and how it has had wide-ranging impacts for people all throughout the country.

I think the article was particularly relevant with the recent news of the US and its potential TikTok download ban; while it may seem trivial for most people (myself included), there is actually a lot at stake for creators and people who rely on TikTok for a living.

In the article, the reporter interviews several people in India who had committed their careers to TikTok; in one case, there was a former worker who had quit his job to work on TikTok full time. He was just starting to accumulate a large following on it (he had hundreds of thousands of followers), and was hoping to monetize his account in the near future. However, then India announced its’ Tik Tok ban, and all of his hard work and content creation went down the drain. This is just one example mentioned in the article, but it must be devastating for these people’s lives.

I personally enjoyed reading this article because it showed me a new perspective on the potential TikTok ban; since I don’t really use TikTok, and all of my friends only use it to check their feed (but not really to post videos or make money off of it), I never really considered any further impacts. However, now I am wondering off if the ban is really necessary, and whether it is worth hurting people’s livelihoods. You should definitely read this WSJ article for more perspective on the situation!