Since the past few months, there have been rumors floating around on the internet about TikTok shutting down in 2020. This has left a lot of ‘popular short-video creation app’ users concerned. If you are also worried or just curious to know if TikTok is going to shut down this year, this post is specially written for you.
Here, I will provide you the most appropriate answer to this question- “Is TikTok Shutting Down in 2021?” If you’ve been thinking about it and want to know from where this has originated, just continue reading below.
Is TikTok Shutting Down in 2021?
TikTok is a massively popular short-video creation and sharing platform. It is one of the most downloaded apps of the last decade. Since its arrival, it has sky-rocketed to success with over 800 million+ active users currently. The app has ever since been in controversies due to a lot of controversial and cringy content available on the platform. Nowadays, a rumor is being passed around on the web (Twitter, WhatsApp, News websites, Forums, etc) that the app is possibly going to shut down this year.
Similar rumors have been viral about platforms like Roblox, Snapchat, etc. But, they aren’t going to shut down. Similarly, TikTok is NOT going to shut down in 2020 as reported by the rumors. As of now, there are no official announcements from neither TikTok nor its parent company ByteDance. Whenever they’ll plan to close TikTok, they’ll inform around one month in advance for the users to move their content. Just like they did with Vigo Video recently in India.
So, TikTok will not shut down any time in 2020, hopefully, However, due to controversies and privacy concerns staying around TikTok, we can’t rule out the fact that TikTok may shut down in near future, especially in countries like the USA, India, etc.
Where did the TikTok shutting down rumors come from?
Most of the rumors about possible apps and websites shutting down come from prank news websites like Channel45News, React2424, etc. However, the rumor of TikTok shutting down didn’t come from here. It first started on Twitter in 2018 by some mischievous users who spread fake screenshots saying that TikTok is going to shut down on October 26, 2018.
The company soon addressed the rumors about it shutting down as ‘Fake News’ via their Twitter account. And, TikTok, as expected, didn’t shut down then.
The rumors in 2020 have mainly arisen after the US Navy banned the military personnel from using TikTok on government-provided handsets because of privacy and security purposes. This was proposed by the cybersecurity wing of the Navy as TikTok is a Chinese app and has privacy concerns. The US Navy issued a warning saying that the serving members of the military who are using the government-furnished smartphones and tablets must remove the TikTok app from their devices and must not install it again. If they fail to remove the said application, they’d be removed from the NMCI (Navy-Marine Corps Intranet).
This left the people thinking if the government will soon ban TikTok for the general public as well. However, it is not expected to happen any time in 2020.
Is TikTok Shutting down in India?
Recently, the news and rumors of TikTok shutting down in India were heavily floating on the internet. These appeared after the Youtube vs TikTok controversy going around in the country. Firstly, the Indian users started reporting the TikTok app poorly on Play Store and took down the average rating of TikTok from 4.5 stars to 1.2 stars within 3-4 days. However, Google then removed 90% of the negative reviews from the Play Store. Thus, stabilizing the rating.
Now, after the India vs China face-off in the Galwan Valley, Ladakh, the situation has become tensed between the two countries. The Indian intelligence agencies released a list of 52 Chinese apps that should be banned in India due to cybersecurity purposes. TikTok is one of the names on that list. This has cemented the fact that the demise of TikTok in India is inevitable. However, the government of India hasn’t announced anything officially and still has its TikTok account active with 1 million+ followers.
We can’t expect a date for when TikTok will shut down in India. But, it is expected to happen sooner than later. After all, a lot of people in India want that to happen. There is even a change.org petition active demanding to ban TikTok. All this is possibly hinting that TikTok might shut down in India soon.
UPDATE: The Government of India has decided to ban TikTok in Indian along with 59 other apps as tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China continue.
Why people want TikTok to shut down?
A lot of people in India as well as in the world have already uninstalled the TikTok app from their devices and request others to do the same. They want TikTok to shut down permanently due to the abundance of cringy as well as NSFW (not safe for work) content available on the platform. TikTok has a lot of videos that have unacceptable incidences like Animal Abuse, Human Abuse, Vulgarity in words and visuals, and many more. These are the reasons why a lot of hate TikTok and want it to close.
The majority of the TikTok videos consist of lip-syncing over popular songs or random scenes. They don’t have any purpose. However, there are some creators who post really good and informative videos. There are some legitimately talented and creative folks using the platform to showcase their talent and art. Unfortunately, they don’t get enough views and lip-sync videos are viewed by millions.
These reasons add-up with the privacy and security concerns of the TikTok app, and make people want it to shut down.
Final Verdict
TikTok is NOT going to shut down in 2020 according to the current situation. However, TikTok is yet to address these rumors officially. These rumors have emerged after the US Navy banned military personnel to use the app on government-furnished devices due to cybersecurity concerns. TikTok might shut down in India before anywhere else due to the controversies happening around it. A lot of people hate TikTok but it still has millions of active viewers. We’d like to know your opinions if TikTok should or should not shut down. Don’t forget to share them in the comments.
If you like TikTok, this post would’ve given you a breath of relief. and if you hate it, this may have given you a ray of hope. That’s all for this post. I hope you find it helpful.
