This archive report was first published on 28 November 2019.
Launched in September 2017 by Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok has become a global phenomenon, with over 1.5 billion downloads worldwide.
The app's playfulness and off-the-cuff humour have turned out to be its trump card, allowing users to post short clips of themselves performing skits, lip-syncing and dancing.
"I get extremely excited watching people react to my videos on TikTok," Ansari, a 20-year-old TikTok star, told AFP in Mumbai, saying he tries to produce clips that make people happy.
However, the app has also faced numerous controversies, including allegations of promoting child pornography and concerns over data privacy.
"India is the main market for TikTok followed by China, the United States, Indonesia, and Vietnam," Craig Chapple from San Francisco-based research agency Sensor Tower told AFP.
The South Asian nation accounts for 40 percent of TikTok's 800 million users worldwide and 11 of the top 25 stars on the app are based in India.
Despite the scandals, the appetite for TikTok shows no sign of easing, with 22-year-old Azeez Ahmed Siddiqui saying, "From morning to late in the night, I only watch TikTok videos," and "My family thrashes me for not having a job and wasting my time on TikTok. But I really want to become a star," he said.
