Couldn’t even upload message for followers due to low-speed internet

Srinagar: The banning of 59 Chinese apps including Tiktok by the government of India has left Tiktok stars of Kashmir in shock and desolation.
Musaib Bashir Bhat, an MCom student living in Bemina area of Srinagar, had found an avenue to express his talent for comedy in Tiktok. But his fame was cut short much too soon.
Musaib had nearly 2 lakh followers on Tiktok. His posts had attracted 3 million views.
“I had earned a lot of followers and viewers on Tiktok, but now all that has gone. It is disheartening and I am trying to grapple with the shock,” he said.
While several other famous Tiktok stars throughout the country managed to put out a video message for their followers, asking them to follow them on other platforms, those in Kashmir failed to do so due to low-speed internet.
Musaib tried to reach his followers through a video message, but so sudden was the announcement of the ban that his video failed to upload on Tiktok due to the low speed of internet.
“I recorded the video on my phone, asking my followers to now follow me on Instagram, but the video uploaded up to 80% and then showed an error,” Musaib rued.
The video message still lies in his phone. The Tiktok icon only shows a government notice on clicking it.
Musaib has switched to Instagram and started posting videos there. “I have a few thousand followers on Instagram, but I wish I could acquire the same number of followers as on Tiktok,” he said.
Musaib had also started earning some money on Tiktok since a month ago. “I had been on Tiktok for one-and-a-half year but I never earned anything till a month ago, when I earned 15k from ads that played between the videos,” he shared.
Similarly, another Tiktok star, Waris Mushtaq, has lost nearly a lakh followers on Tiktok. His reach has been reduced to a few thousand followers on Instagram.
Waris, a BA student living in Maisuma area of Srinagar, became famous on Tiktok for his variety of videos that included jokes, mimicry, and other interesting stuff. He joined the platform a year ago.
“I used to make 2-3 videos daily on Tiktok, which attracted a huge number of views. The recent order of government has come as a shock. I am now with Instagram only,” he said.
Waris, too, couldn’t upload a farewell message for his followers and request them to follow him on other platforms due to low-speed internet.
“I made a video after observing that every Tiktok user was uploading a farewell video for their followers. But I wasn’t able to upload it as it took too much time,” he said.
He recalls the nervousness he felt while uploading the video. When it failed to upload, he felt such a frustration that he can “probably never forget”.
“If I was able to upload the video at that point of time, I would have been able to get several thousands of my followers on my Instagram account,” he rues.
Wamiq said he earned no money from Tiktok, but it helped him earn the taste of stardom and fame.
Tiktok, along with 58 other China-based applications, was banned due to “security concerns” amid tensions on the Ladakh border between India and China.

KALEEM GEELANI