Hong Kong (CNN) More than 150 million people across the United States are facing a new possible reality. In other words, life without video posting app “TikTok”.
The popular video-sharing app is in an ongoing battle. While politicians are calling for an outright ban, operators claim the apps are essential community spaces, educational platforms and merely a distraction.
You don’t have to imagine this reality in Hong Kong. TikTok has suspended its service in Hong Kong in 2020.
The sudden exit elicited mixed reactions. While some users and content creators complained, others said their lives were improved without infinite scrolling.
At the time of the exit, TikTok was relatively low-key in Hong Kong and not as popular as it is in the United States today.
But the various reactions to the withdrawal, as well as people’s shift to other platforms and offline lives, point to a future without TikTok in the United States.
lost opportunity
TikTok announced its withdrawal from Hong Kong in July 2020. This comes a week after China enacted the controversial National Security Law in Hong Kong. The decision comes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to distance itself from China and its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance.
But it’s a sudden break for creators. One of them, Shivani Dukande, 25, had about 45,000 followers when TikTok exited Hong Kong.
Dukander’s account began to flourish around the beginning of 2020, when the new coronavirus spread. At that time, life-related content such as cooking and health care were popular on TikTok.
“There are a lot of new creators,” Dukander said. “We work together, chat and exchange ideas in the (group) chat, building a community.”
Eventually, my luck started to turn around. Dukander began receiving requests for paid PR content and advertising partnerships from various companies. Brands have teamed up with creators to launch the popular “TikTok challenge” to reach younger consumers.
“As more and more people come in, it just starts to get interesting,” Ducande said. “It disappeared one morning.”
“If I keep going like this, I’ll probably make enough money and quit my day job.
These are the main arguments TikTok has made in the US in recent weeks. In March, the company’s chief executive produced a series of documentaries spotlighting small business owners who rely on TikTok for income ahead of congressional testimony.
The company announced in March that about 5 million companies in the U.S. are using TikTok, more than its competitors. In November, London-based research firm Omdia predicted that by 2027, TikTok would generate more ad revenue than Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, and YouTube combined.
One of the reasons is that TikTok has been used for a long time. According to data from the data analysis company SensorTower, in the second quarter of 2022, TikTok users around the world will spend an average of 95 minutes on the app every day. That’s almost double the time spent on Facebook and Instagram.
In Hong Kong, however, other platforms quickly started to fill the void. Reel, Instagram’s short-form video service with features like TikTok-like infinite scrolling, has exploded in popularity, and Ducande is using it.
Dukand had to build a fan base from scratch, but now has 12,500 followers. I’m optimistic that it will grow in the future. Still, he said, quitting TikTok was “a missed opportunity for me.” The thriving community of creators has all but disappeared.
“All the jobs, content creation and marketing opportunities that existed on TikTok have been lost,” Ducande said.
TikTok account of Shivani Dukande
How are you young people?
But for some, TikTok’s exit is a welcome change.
Sixteen-year-old Poppy Anderson has been using TikTok since it launched in 2018. Like most of her peers, Anderson says she spent hours “rolling.” Even if you feel unsatisfactory.
“It’s easy to find something that suits my tastes because the (algorithmic) ‘for you’ page keeps people stuck,” Anderson said. “It’s fun, although you don’t get much out of it.”
According to Anderson, TikTok can be a toxic environment that fosters biased thinking, herd mentality, a false “cancel culture” and online misconduct like criticizing girls and women’s bodies. After a real-life acquaintance used TikTok, they started acting differently and their friendship fell apart.
15-year-old Martin Poon is also fed up with TikTok, but can’t quit.
“Everyone is doing it, so I feel like I have to do it too, keep up with the times, keep up with the trends, and I think that’s a lot of pressure on me.”
TikTok is also riddled with misinformation and misogyny. Accounts such as Andrew Tate, who call themselves “winner boys,” were recently detained in Romania on human trafficking and rape charges and are popular among boys at the Poon school.
“I worry that (this kind of account) will have a big impact on young people. It will greatly affect their thinking and actions,” Pan said. added.
Experts have long worried about TikTok’s impact on young people’s mental health. Teenagers may be exposed to harmful content related to suicide and eating disorders within minutes of creating an account on an app, a study has found.
Facing mounting pressure, TikTok recently announced it would limit viewers under the age of 18 to one hour a day. However, users can turn off the feature for this default setting.
Anderson acknowledged the positives of TikTok, such as being able to have candid conversations about mental health issues. Still, he said he was happy when the app stopped working. The temptation of vibrato is gone and I sleep better. “I couldn’t control myself alone,” he recalls.
find what you like
For Poon and her friend Abba Chan, her age, the TikTok exit is a string of new discoveries.
In 2020, TikTok withdrew, and the two took online classes, couldn’t see friends, and had a lot of free time at home. Instagram’s “reels” and YouTube’s “shorts” hadn’t even started in Hong Kong at the time.
“I had to think about how to use my time outside of TikTok,” Chan said. “For us, it’s about expanding what we love.”
The pair began supporting the neurodiversity community (differences in brain and nerve-derived traits are considered diversity). She runs clubs at her school to raise awareness and awareness of neurodiversity and also volunteers with neurodiverse patients.
According to the pair, it gave them a sense of purpose. There are other benefits over time.
Friends who used to shoot Douyin and watch videos together now chat face to face. With the relaxation of the epidemic restrictions, it has become easier to exercise outdoors, and some friends have also started exercising. Their mental health also improved.
Of course, starting in my teens, I didn’t stop using social media entirely, but used it as an advertising tool for club events. But I no longer spend hours scrolling like I used to. Sometimes I wonder what TikTok is up to outside of Hong Kong, but when no one around me uses it, the appeal fades away.
“A lot of people seem to have forgotten about TikTok,” Anderson said. “People are switching to other platforms or moving on.”
