TikTok’s rating on the Google Play Store improved after the platform intervened and deleted some reviews of app. The short video-sharing app which has over 1.5 billion downloads and over 800 million active users is facing a backlash because of the fallout from a face-off between a TikTok star and a YouTube influencer.
The app’s ratings had dropped from 4.9 on the Google Play Store earlier this year to 1.2 stars and rose only after Google’s intervention.
Users in India are giving the app a 1-star rating following a trend to #bantiktok on Twitter. On the Apple App Store it still has a respectable 4.8 rating at the moment.
As per a tweet by Twitter user Norbert Elekes, Google deleted over a million reviews on the TikTok app listing, which resulted in the jump from 1.2 to 1.6. The number of reviews went down from 28 million when the rating was at 1.2, to 27 million when the rating was seen at 1.6.
Why The Backlash?
The whole trend to ban TikTok started when a popular TikTok star with 14 million followers posted a short video in bad taste that seemingly promoted acid attacks on women.
Users also called out the platform for seemingly promoting rape.
These calls followed from an earlier YouTube vs TikTok battle where YouTube influencer CarryMinati posted a video roasting TikTok star Amar Siddiqui, which was later removed from YouTube.
With over 70 million views, the video was quick to become the most liked non-musical Indian YouTube video. While the roast was about TikTok Vs YouTube, it also made jibes at the queer community, which led to backlash against it.
The video was widely reported by the community with many people calling out the queerphobic slurs used by Carryminati. On 14 May the video was taken down by YouTube as it went against its policy of bullying and harassment – which led to calls for action by the influencer’s followers.
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