Works of Tiger Sniffing Mobile Information Group

Author | Hu Zhanjia

Title map | Visual China

On the side of the TikTok couch, almost no one is sleeping.

At the moment, in the Indian market with the largest number of users, TikTok is undergoing a near-pixel plagiarism. The plagiarists are several college students of the Indian Institute of Technology.

According to the Russian Satellite News Network on the 27th, a mobile application “Mitron” similar to TikTok, a byte-beating international product, recently broke Red, with a record 5 million downloads within a month of launch. According to the information on the Play Store, the purpose of this application is to “create a platform where people can publish through people all over the world. Small videos to entertain yourself, and at the same time create a social incentive platform for people to share and create their own videos. “ It is understood that “Mitron” is currently ranked second in the free list of Google Play Stores in India.

“Mitron” not to be underestimated

Although TikTok still sits firmly in the top spot in terms of overall user size and local influence in India, the rapid rise of “Mitron” still cannot be ignored, which poses a difficult choice for Indian users. It’s normal, after all, this app is very similar to TikTok.


On the platform, users can also create, edit and share short videos, and can like and leave comments to other users. It can be said that this is a confrontation between local entrepreneurs and foreign “invaders”.

But obviously, “Mitron” has an advantage in localization. andSuccessfully breaking into the local area and solving the localization problem is a tough battle for any entrepreneur including TikTok. After all, TikTok has suffered a lot in this regard.

In April 2019, TikTok was banned in India for its pornographic content and the possibility of exposing children to sexual assailants. The Madras High Court in India has imposed a temporary injunction prohibiting downloading. According to the New India Express, the owner of TikTok, the byte-beating company, has been bleeding every day since the ban was implemented The amount is up to 45 million Indian rupees.

At that time, ByteDance ’s executive in charge of international public policy in India, Helena Lersch, said in an interview with Indian media that the company has been strengthening its content regulation policy in the past few months. “We are obviously disappointed with the current developments, but we are also very optimistic that we will solve this problem. We are still committed to serving our Indian users. As a company, we hope to invest in India in the next three years 10 100 million US dollars, which also shows that we will continue to maintain an optimistic attitude towards the Indian market. “

In order to strengthen the conviction of India and the outside world, byte executives frequently endorse in person.

Bytedancing executive Leerson said: “As a company, we abide by local laws, but we also want to adapt culturally to the local area. We have a content management team in India. Last year, we globalized our The work capacity of the content supervision team has increased by 400% because we are ready for growth. “

However, during the localization process, it is impossible to predict precisely what kind of problems it can bring.

Just last week, because the video of the sulfuric acid attack uploaded by Faizal Siddiqui on the Indian TikTok in early May, he mocked the victims of “Acid Attacks” and beautified Acid Attacks, making TikTok as a platform also withstood disaster. A large number of Indian users gave TikTok a 1-star rating in the Google Play store.

According to Lerson, ByteDance has a two-step method to monitor content. “First is a machine learning tool used to filter content, and then handed over to the content management team. In India, the group speaks 14 languages. I think that it is essential that the content monitoring team is based in India, And speak the local language to make culturally relevant decisions. “

When TikTok is still struggling to explore the localization problem, the appearance of “Mitron” is undoubtedly a hit. The previous encounters of TikTok in India cannot prove that “foreign monks are good at reading.” In terms of data security issues, user privacy issues, auditing difficulties, and team integration, TikTok is still crawling along the way.

More than “Mitron”

In India, known as the “Next China”, in addition to its unpredictable opponent, “Mitron”, TikTok is also facing a market battle with international giants.

Indian independent news agency IANS reported that in the Indian market, platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are facing fierce competition from TikTok. Despite the local call for strengthening the supervision of TikTok, the digital industry giants have to add short video services to their platforms in the face of pressure from this application.

How hot is TikTok in India?

SensorTower data shows that TikTok was the world ’s most downloaded social media application in September 2019, with nearly 60 million installations, and India accounted for 44% of the total installations of the application. Facebook installed more than 50.5 million in September, of which India accounted for 23%.

Not long ago, TikTok has achieved more than 2 billion downloads on the App Store and Google Play Store. In the first quarter of 2020, TikTok generated the most downloads in any application, accounting for the total downloads. 315 million times.

This spiraling upward trend has already made Facebook, YouTube and other platforms a big enemy, even in the United States, their hostility has not been concealed at all. In the report of The Economist, TikTok is the only technology company other than Apple that has more than 100 million users in China and the West. While China’s first global software company continues to grow, the United States is not happy at all.

This displeasure has already spread to the Indian market of 1.3 billion people.

The American Paulson Foundation Marco Polo think tank researcher Matt Sheehan wrote that in the past few years, in the major emerging markets around the world, the popularity and popularity of Chinese applications is catching up with the United States. Especially in India, the world ’s largest emerging market.

Chinese products such as Tiktok and the Indian version of “Quick Hand” VMate are already far ahead of US applications. According to Sensor Tower data, six of India ’s top 10 downloaded apps in 2019 are from China, compared with only three US products on the list.

Matt Sheehan pointed out that the leading position of US technology products in the world is almost entirely dependent on a company of Facebook. Its WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook and Instagram are everywhere, occupying 87% of the market share in emerging countries.

China ’s share of such markets is made up of more diverse companies. Alibaba’s UC browser, short video platform VMate, byte beating Tikotok, etc., occupy a huge market share in the aforementioned emerging countries. Although neither Baidu nor Tencent in BAT have applications in the top ten downloads, it does not affect the resulting catch-up advantage of Chinese products.

Faced with this situation, as the Indian media reported, Facebook had no choice.

According to Zhu Dao has previously reported that Facebook has planned to fight TikTok in India, and they want to spare no effort to compete with this short video mobile application under the byte bounce. Not only that, Facebook is said to have developed an active strategy to attract content creators and influential people to abandon TikTok and go to themselves. Facebook’s platform Lasso is looking for influential celebrities to join them, and promises to provide higher compensation than TikTok.

Not only has Facebook and other giants chased and blocked, but now the new competitor “Mitron” is here to disrupt it. It can be said that in the Indian market, TikTok’s bright data B side still hides many risks.