BENGALURU: The ban on 59 Chinese apps including the popular short video platform, Tik Tok, has seen homegrown apps buzzing in terms of garnering million of downloads and attracting potential investors. Putting their weight behind the ‘Local for Vocal’ campaign, the app creators have been pledging to replace the Chinese apps and have terming the government’s decision to ban Chinese apps as a step in the right direction.
Tik Tok’s most fierce Desi rival, Chingari is enjoying the new found fame with massive 2 lakh downloads per hour and a rating of 4.7 on Playstore. Founded in 2018, Chingari’ s founder, Sumit Ghosh told TNIE that the idea is not to create a Tik Tok replica but generate diverse content with added features like news, chatting etc. “We are planning to scale up the service if we get proper funding,” he added.
Roposo, another short video platform, which claims to have 65 million downloads, says, “TikTok users have started switching to Roposo after the ban. Influencers who have switched to Roposo include Prem Vats and Noor Afshan who had fan followings of 9.5 million and 9 million respectively on TikTok.
MyGov, the citizen engagement platform founded by the Government of India has already been present on Roposo.”Other homegrown apps such as ShareChat is silently leading a social media revolution. “We will step up our focus on regional outreach keeping our Bharat connect pristine,” said Berges Y Malu, director (Public Policy), of the company.