TikTok vs YouTube is the latest war on the internet in which the users of each platform are roasting those of other platforms. Now, you must be having various questions in mind such as – What happened? Who started it? Who are the key persons involved? etc. Don’t worry as we have got you covered. In this article, all your questions will be answered in a systematic manner. Without further ado, let’s dig into the matter.
First of all, let us explain what are both platforms i.e. YouTube and TikTok. YouTube is a video sharing service that allows users to watch, like, comment, share videos of others, and upload their own videos. This service or site can be accessed via computers, tablets, laptops, and smartphones. YouTube was created on 14th February 2005 by PayPal employees – Steve Chan, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. In November of 2006, Google bought YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars. YouTube had and continues to have a very remarkable impact on the people. From basic comedy sketches to highly technical and complex processes to methods to cook delicious dishes, everything is available on YouTube.
Coming to TikTok, it is a short form, a video-sharing app that allows its users to create and share a 15-second video. Using TikTok, its users can create their own short videos on the mobile app and such videos are generally having musical numbers and songs. TikTok is relatively new as it came out in September of 2016. TikTok is available in over 150 markets with 75 different languages. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, spent around 1 billion dollars to purchase Music.ly. In the August of 2018 Music.ly and Tiktok merged and created a single larger video platform.
Due to the similarity of the video formats, everyone is deeming that there is a competition between YouTube and Tiktok. Many people support YouTube whereas TikTok also enjoys a very high level of support from its fans. Many people are of the view that YouTube has a more loyal and stronger fan base and audience because it has been around for a longer period of time. Another school of thought, which is also in favor of YouTubers that TikTok will be popular, but it can never get as big as YouTube. Its audience will eventually fade away and they all will turn to YouTube.
There are some differences between the two platforms that are discussed as follows. YouTube has a variety of genres of videos. There are videos such as educational, motivational, documentaries, vlogs, scientific, entertainment, etc available on YouTube. On TikTok, the majority of the content is for entertainment or fun only. It has a very negligible amount of educational content or tutorials of any kind.
One of the best things about YouTube is copyrights i.e. no one can copy or use your content without your permission. If anyone copies your video, you can simply strike a copyright claim against that content or video. On TikTok, there is nothing as copyrights i.e. anyone can use any other person’s content without any permission.
Now that the meaning and little history of both the platforms is clear, let’s dive into the matter of the war between the users of these two platforms.
How did the war start?
YouTubers roasting TikTok users and vice versa is now not a new thing and the same has been going on for quite some time now. The people who use the two platforms are very different. The war between the users of the two platforms is not just to increase their followers, not anymore. The matter now is to decide the users of which platform are better and who are better suited to rule over the video world.
The war got escalated when a YouTuber Elvish Yadav uploaded a roast of TikTokers on his YouTube channel. In his video, he compared Tiktokers to rag pickers, questioned and mocked their intelligence, etc. This infuriated Tiktokers and two of the Tiktokers named Amir Siddiqui and Revolver Rani responded by calling out Elvish Yadav’s derogatory remarks against TikTokers.
In his video, Amir Siddiqui made a comparison of both the platforms and spoke in favor of TikTokers and their community. He said the users of TikTok have a great sense of unity whereas such is not there among YouTubers, he also said that YouTubers copy their content from Tiktok and they are not very creative. He also said that all the YouTubers just follow each other and they all make similar videos on a single trending topic.
The war ascended when famous YouTuber CarryMinati, known for roasting various celebrities, shows, etc. made a video in response to Amir Siddiqui’s rant video. CarryMinati made a video YouTube vs Tiktok: In this response video, CarryMinati deconstructed Amir Siddiqui’s video line by line and gave replies specifically. This video of CarryMinati went viral, it was viewed over 78 million times. Sharing their view, famous YouTubers such as Bhuvan Bam, Ashish Chanchlani, and various others supported CarryMinati by sharing memes on Twitter. But after some time, this video was removed from the google-owned platform.
Why was CarryMinati’s video deleted?
CarryMinati’s video that went viral and gained millions of view but it was removed by YouTube as it was claimed to be ‘violation of terms of service’. It was one of its kind videos by CarryMinati in which he roasted and spoke against a single individual in the whole video. This fact was confessed by CarryMinati himself in the video. Supposedly, his video was deleted from YouTube after it was reported for cyberbullying and harassment.
When the video got removed, fans started showing support and the hashtag #BanTikTokIndia and #tiktokexposed started trending. CarryMinati uploaded another video on 17th May named ‘Stop making assumptions | YouTube vs TikTok: The End’. In this video, he said that he was unable to understand why his video was removed from YouTube and asked his followers and viewers to not make any assumptions and misinterpret his puns and jokes.
Fans were very upset over the deletion of CarryMinati’s video and another hashtag started trending on social media, especially Twitter in support of CarryMinati i.e. #justiceforcarry. Although a lot of people are in favor of CarryMinati, many others are against CarryMinati’s video and are calling him and his video harsh and rude.
Why there is a drastic change in the ratings of TikTok in the play store?
CarryMinati’s video and its removal from YouTube aggravated the rift between the users of YouTube and TikTok. In addition to fans of CarryMinati against TikTok, the problem further increased for TikTok when a new video of Faizal Siddiqui (brother of Amir Siddiqui) came to light. It was a very controversial video that went viral on all social media platforms. This video was called out for endorsing an acid attack on women.
All of these infuriated netizens and they started giving TikTok 1 star rating. Due to this, the star rating of the app in the play store reduced drastically within a week. Netizens have been successful in bringing down the ratings of TikTok from a very good 4.8 stars to an abysmally low 1.3 stars on the Google Play Store. Moreover, all this happened in a short span of under a single week.
Faizal Siddiqui came to defend his controversial video and said that his intention was not to hurt anyone in any capacity on his official Instagram account. But this was of little help because he continued facing a severe backlash as the 1-star ratings of TikTok continued to pour in. In addition to the low star ratings and the severe backlash faced by Faizal Siddiqui, his TikTok account also got suspended and an FIR was filed against him by NCW (National Commission for Women).
In light of all these events, the hashtag #IndiaagainstTikTok started trending on Twitter demanding a ban on the app in India. Whether the ban will happen or not, in reality, is not yet final and it is too soon to say anything in that regard. All things considered; this is not the first time that controversy around TikTok has happened. The previous year, the app was banned in India as it was found endorsing offensive and derogatory content.
After this came to light, around 60 lakh videos were removed from TikTok. After being banned for some time, the Madras Court lifted the ban and, thus, the app came back to both the Google Play Store and App Store. At present TikTok has around more than 200 million users in India and continues to be one of the most popular and trending social media apps in the country. Globally, it has been downloaded more than 2 billion times on the Google Play Store and the App Store.
You can choose to be on any side or you can choose to not be bothered at all. Whatever your stance in this matter is, the most important matter which is the need of the hour is a strict policy formulation that will analyze and check the quality of content that is being shared on such platforms. There is a very urgent need to eliminate content that promotes misogyny and class, gender, caste, or any other bias.
Anika Sharma