Why TikTok received a massive down-rating on Google Play?

TikTok, the popular short video sharing app which is one of the fastest-growing apps has been hit with a massive down-rating on Google Play. 

In just a few days, the popular app has been significantly downrated from 4.6 to 1.2 stars. There are probably tens of thousands of users who have rated as low as 1 star in the last few days. It looks like the app may receive even more negative ratings which could end up with an average 1-star rating.

On the other hand, the TikTok Lite app which is a lite version of the TikTok has also been hit even more. With its huge drop in the Google Play Store ratings dropping to 1 star, the TikTok app and its lite version are now considered the lowest rated app in the popular apps segment.

Why TikTok Received A Massive Down-Rating? What’s The Reason Behind It?

The rising popularity of social media apps such as YouTube and TikTok has given a huge platform for the people to showcase their talent. There are many people on YouTube as well as TikTok who have received a large number of views and likes based on their great talent.

However, the powerful social media platforms have also led to the rise of cyberbullying and online harassment. TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese firm ByteDance, faces criticism in India due to a social media war erupted between TikTokers and YouTubers in the midst of a Coronavirus Pandemic.

Ongoing combat between an Indian TikToker named Amir Siddiqui and Indian YouTuber named CarryMinati escalated quickly on social media leading to a tremendous fan fight.

From Where Did It Begin? What Was The Conflict?

It all started with TikToker Amir Siddiqui who uploaded a video earlier this month, however, soon realizing that it was spreading erratic negativity, he soon removed it.

It’s not the first time TikTok received all hatred due to its cringe content. Before this fiasco, there were many people who have already spoken about the TikTok cringe content on social media platforms in the past couple of years. YouTubers such as Elvis Yadav, Saiman Says, Thugesh, Ducky Bhai, and others whom I know.

In response to some YouTube roast videos on cringe TikTokers, the TikTok user Amir Siddiqui stood up and posted an IGTV calling out YouTubers and speaking about the TikTok community and comparing both the platforms.

He highlighted the unity of the TikTok community in the video, threatened YouTubers for TikTok content copyright, and tried to instigate YouTube creators who roast, to respond to him by tagging them in the IGTV post.

He mentioned that calling their TikTok content cringe translates to cringe content 100 times if used on YouTube which sounds stupid and doesn’t make any sense. He also talked about TikTokers getting better user engagement activity which is far more ahead as compared to YouTubers and TikTokers upload as much as 10 videos a day while YouTubers upload 3 videos a month according to him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5s47Iw29L8

‘YouTube vs TikTok – The End’ Video Made A Huge Impact

In response to the IGTV video, CarryMinati, a YouTuber, who is known for roasting several shows and celebrities, roasted the TikToker Amir Siddiqui on his permission. With a subscriber base of more than 18 million, Ajey Nagar A.K.A CarryMinati is among the most popular YouTubers in India. He has roasted a number of shows including the Big Boss and also roasted about TikTok’s cringe content before.

Amir Siddiqui, who is a self-proclaimed social media influencer in the TikTok community with over 3.8 million followers has challenged the CarryMinati to roast him, he mentioned it would be a lovely opportunity to be roasted by CarryMinati, I will be happy.

Having said that, a video named ‘YouTube vs TikTok – The End‘ went viral on YouTube and social media platforms in which CarryMinati speaks about the TikTok app and Amir Siddiqui.

In his response, he roasted Amir Siddiqui’s video line-by-line from his grammar slip-ups, using irrelevant hashtags for engagement, to gaining sympathy through his videos, each line was pointed out with Amir’s several faults.

In the video, CarryMinati pointed out that TikTokers tend to bump the video count by posting multiple 15-second videos even though they have the option to create 1-minute videos. This is when Siddiqui alleged that YouTubers run for views and don’t create content like how TikTokers do when it comes to numbers.

The record-breaking video reportedly received over 70 million views and over 10 million likes in just a few days. For the first time in history, a non-musical video on YouTube widespread and received such views. The channel gained more than twice the current subscriber base after the video went on viral.

The video was later removed from YouTube for violating its TOS. It seems YouTube was eventually forced to take down the video due to a mass report. The exact reason wasn’t mentioned, it may be because of homophobic slurs or on the ground of harassment and online abuse on the lower communities like LGBTQ as per rumors.

Right after the deleted video, a new video by CarryMinati titled ‘STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS | YOUTUBE VS TIK TOK: THE END‘ received about 48 million views till now. He seeks exactly which part of the video has violated the TOS and made it deleted, he told people to stop making assumptions. The 20-year-old insists that his comments were lost in translation and taken out of context.

CarryMinati tweeted in response to the deleted YouTube video.

pic.twitter.com/WQUCh0Z7HB

— Ajey Nagar (@CarryMinati) May 15, 2020

Removal of the video not only created a huge impact on the fan base but it also severely impacted TikTok’s Google Play Store ratings. Minutes after the CarryMinati’s YouTube video deleted, an inferno started shattering all over the internet in support of CarryMinati.

A hashtag #justiceforcarry has been trending on Twitter to support CarryMinati. Fans showed dissatisfaction on this action, many users claimed to have removed the app, even a number of YouTube users have marked a dislike on YouTube handles of certain popular TikTok stars in an effort to turn them into the most disliked videos on the video-sharing platform.

https://twitter.com/JThakers/status/1261193887198126081

Celebrities like Ashish Chanchlani and Himansh Kohli posted on Twitter with support hashtag in favor of CarryMinati. A popular Tech YouTuber, Technical Guruji, created a video without vocals, removing the TikTok app from all his phones to support YouTube creators.

I know people, this is very disappointing and a shocker.#justiceforcarry

— Ashish Chanchlani (@ashchanchlani) May 14, 2020

It was just a fun roast, @CarryMinati. Everything else aside, I'm rooting for you. Keep the good content coming in buddy 👍⚡🔥 #carryminati #carryminatiroast

— Hemansh Kohli (@himanshkohli) May 14, 2020

TikTok In Big Trouble – Trends Related To Ban TikTok Appears On Social Media

TikTok has pretty much weak content moderation policies which may lead to share harmful and abusive videos. A large number of Indian users calling for a ban by trending #TikTokBan and #TikTokExposed hashtags on social media. This happened when a video created by Faizal Siddiqui (Amir Siddiqui’s brother) with a fanbase of over 13.4 million, amid the fiasco,  he was accused of glorifying acid attacks on women in a TikTok video.

The NCW (National Commission of Women) later targeted TikTok for a ban since it promotes several videos of women being abused eventually banning the app from the country. NCW added that the app is pushing youngsters towards unproductive life where they are living only for few followers.

The NCW attention was drawn to a video where a person seemed to be throwing acid on a girl. Soon several videos will be replicated by other TikTokers promoting it. If not stopped, soon there will be hundreds of videos with abusive content including domestic abuse, molestation, inferring rape.

@NCWIndia has written to @DGPMaharashtra Shri. Subodh Kumar Jaiswal to take action against #FaizalSiddiqui for the video he posted that promotes a grievous crimes of #acidattack on social media using @TikTok_IN App. @CyberDost @MahaCyber1 pic.twitter.com/pcjyXtGiJG

— NCW (@NCWIndia) May 18, 2020

Rekha Sharma, Chief of National Commission for Women (NCW) said in a tweet,

I am of the strong openion that this @TikTok_IN should be banned totally and will be writting to GOI. It not only has these objectionable videos but also pushing youngsters towards unproductive life where they are living only for few followers and even dying when no. Decline. https://t.co/MyeuRbjZAy

— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) May 19, 2020

TikTok has suspended Faizal Siddiqui’s account after one of his videos faced massive criticism. Both the incidents also gave way to Twitter hashtag trend #TikTokBan, wherein people are advising others to boycott the Chinese app.

Faizal Siddiqui defended the video and indicated that it has been misrepresented, but later apologized. He said, “As a social media influencer, I realize my responsibility and apologize to anyone who was offended by the video.”

Let’s see where this ends!