Why is TikTok Flooded With "Dirty India" Content?

Wednesday, 22 November 2023

By: TB Obwoge

When I've posted continent that is directed towards India or possibly has Indian people in the videos, they are suppressed on the platform. One example was when I posted a "Happy Independence Day India" post from my American nonprofit account, it only has around 20-40 views to this day.

As a women's rights and gender equality nonprofit, I was excited to post a video of an Indian father, bringing his daughter home from an abusive marriage. The video was very moving, the village welcomed her home, there was music, hugs and singing. The father would rather have his daughter return home to him then living in an abusive marriage and home.

That video was given very low views as well. However when searching the word "India" I was surprised to see so many videos painting the country as filthy and the citizens as such. The videos are widely watched and shared, I was unable to see very many positive videos featuring India. This is the same way the United States is shown as being so filthy and crime ridden.

One man's account had nothing but videos calling India the filthiest place on earth. His account had nothing but food videos, as well as videos of the streets of India. All of the views on his account were in the hundreds of thousands as well.

One of the videos posted the comments, if you didn't read the comments you would never know that the video was actually Bangladesh and not in India. Several people came to comments section to point out that 2 of these particular videos were not indeed filmed in India.

The posts aren't just about how dirty the country is but it shows hundreds of videos about how badly the people are towards tourists. Several videos proclaiming that white tourists are stalked in the country, there was one video where a woman continued to reach into the vehicle where a man was riding. It appeared to be very fake and looked as if was staged just to be filmed.

Others show animals walking on the streets of India, something that is also common place in Latin America and in African countries as well. However this doesn't make any of these countries dirty or targets for TikTok.

Since when did videos of food have to include so many videos of food that you wouldn't want to eat? Well apparently TikTok thinks pushing content about India should include disrespecting their food.

There are several posts on Reddit about the hatred of Inidia on TikTok as well.

A India hate channel on tiktok

This guy’s tiktok is just filled with content that degrades India and just perpetuating a stereotype. Comes off racist. Is it just me or whenever India is mentioned on Tiktok it is mostly negative? They are either making fun of Indian accent, movies, or how we look and smell. This time it is about food stalls. However in the case of China or even any African country you rarely see negative coverages even though they both have many many problems. At the end of the day I’m gonna be perceived as a South Asian. And attending school where I’m one of the few Indian who isn’t ashamed by my Indianess, it really pisses me of because of the stereotypes that I have to deal with. Tbh the other POC’s are also involved especially Arabs and Hispanics. Do you also feel that most westerners have a negative attitude towards India and Indians.

Source Reddit

Censorship claims emerge as TikTok gets political in India

Ajay Barman, 22, is a fading TikTok star in India. Not because he is past his prime, but because - he alleges - he's been "shadow banned" for uploading videos on Hindu-Muslim brotherhood on the popular video creation and sharing platform.

Shadow banning is the act of partially blocking content so it doesn't reach the platform's entire community of users. It will not be obvious to the user that the creator's content is not being promoted.

TikTok has traditionally shied away from political subjects, but Mr Barman built a strong following of just under a million by performing and uploading 15 second skits on the theme of Hindu-Muslim unity at a time when many in India fear the two communities are being driven further apart. His most popular offering garnered more than 2.5 million views.

In one of the videos, Mr Barman is dressed as a Muslim man wearing a white prayer cap who is being carried by a Hindu man as harmonious music plays in the background. In another popular skit, he is dressed as a Muslim writer from Pakistan who is in India to research a book and is greeted and hosted by two gleeful Hindu strangers.

The fact that a young Hindu man from the Indian city of Bhopal was uploading videos promoting brotherhood and peace between Hindus and Muslims captured significant attention, earning him the moniker of top "humanity" content creator.

Source BBC News

Is the fact that India banned the app the reason why so many hateful videos are on the platform? Or is it because people in general hate India and Indians? Why are there so many hateful videos and accounts about India allowed on the platform?

TikTok CEO grilled in connection with China, calls India's ban 'hypothetical' and theoretical

Washington [US], March 24, 2023 (ANI): TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before US Congress amid growing security concerns and potential Chinese government influence over the company. Chew faced hostile questioning from the House Energy and Commerce Committee as he verbally danced to make the case that the social media giant is taking "real action" to address national security concerns from the US.

During a four-hour long hearing, Chew time and again stressed that the TikTok app, which is owned by the Chinese technology company Bytedance, has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government and it doesn't pose a risk to its 150 million users in the U.S. nor share their data with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

US Lawmaker Debbie Lesko during her line of questioning quoted India and other countries that have recently banned TikTok in some form.

"This (TikTok) is a tool which is ultimately under the control of the Chinese government and screams out with national security concerns Mr Chew, how can all of these countries and our FBI director be wrong? asked Lesko.

"I think a lot of risks pointed out are hypothetical and theoretical risks. I have not seen any evidence," Chew responded.

Source: Babushashi

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