TikTok continues to be surrounded in controversies and yet again it’s for all the bad reasons. Another TikTok ‘social-media influencer’ named Faizal Siddiqui has been caught trying to promote acid-attacks on women by jilted lovers. A cyber-complaint has been filed against Faizal, who is the brother of Amir Siddiqui. Over the last one week, Amir has himself been in a pickle for his feud with CarryMinati.
With over 13.4 million followers on the Chinese start-up ByteDance owned TikTok platform, Faizal might have been corrupting the minds of followers with such malicious behavior, routinely.
https://twitter.com/IntrepidSaffron/status/1262066309736603653
I have filed complaint Faizal Siddiqui for the tiktok video promoting acid attack towards our women.
This type of act shouldn't be promoted and strict action should be taken@Rajput_Ramesh @MODIfiedVikas @indiantweeter @TajinderBagga https://t.co/NohTPDzhxi pic.twitter.com/1NkuxJaDQ7— Ashish (@go4ashi) May 17, 2020
The video has, since then, gone viral on social media. In the contentious TikTok video, he can be heard saying, “Usna tumhe chor diya jiska liya tumna Mujhe chora tha” and then proceeds to throw acid on the girl. (“Did the man, for whom you abandoned me, leave you?)
I am taking it up today itself with both police and @TikTok_IN https://t.co/drBqy9ykji
— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) May 18, 2020
As soon as the video went viral, the netizens got furious over the blasphemous video whilst demanding Faizal Siddiqui be put behind the bars for promoting acid attacks on girls who reject marriage or relationship proposals.
Moreover, hashtags like #BanTikTok India and #Acid Twitter have been trending on the micro-blogging platform all day long. Netizens are calling for an outright ban on the Chinese app in India.
Rekha Sharma, Chairperson of the National Commission of Women took cognizance of the video earlier today and said that she will take up the issue with both police and TikTok.
I am taking it up today itself with both police and @TikTok_IN https://t.co/drBqy9ykji
— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) May 18, 2020
TikTok is infamous for the crass content it produces on an industrial scale. The unicorns exist in the TikTok world but they are very few and far in between.
In another video, Amir Siddiqui can be seen rabidly sexualizing women.
This is how he was standing up for women. Tag this video to the so called feminists. pic.twitter.com/AMH3Xy9I0Q
— Ashish (@Ashu_botanist) May 17, 2020
To make the matters worse, this sort of content is peddled on TikTok on a regular basis. Recently, Jihadi elements were flourishing on TikTok without being censored in the backdrop of the Wuhan virus pandemic.
Another TikTok star Faisal Shaikh aka ‘Faizu’ last year was seen glorifying terrorism in the wake of the killing of one Tabrez Ansari.
An FIR was filed against him last year for posting an instigating video that threatened to communalize the entire episode. Faizu and his gang of minions were seen mocking the Mumbai Police whilst issuing a warning that there will be dire consequences for Ansari’s death.
One Tik Toker named Hasnain Khan had said in his video, “You may have killed the innocent Tabrez Ansari, but tomorrow, when his progeny takes revenge, do not say that Muslims are terrorists”.
Although after the FIR was filed, Mr. Faizu had to put out an apology saying, “We would like to apologise sincerely if any people have felt hurt by our video. Our intention was not to hurt anyone or insult anyone. The video has been removed, Jai Hind!”
It’s a separate argument as to how TikTok is the home to most cringe-worthy content on the internet and how the Jihadis who promoted spitting and flouting of lockdown norms have been allowed to go scot-free.
However, if you dare utter a word against the Chinese Communist Party on the platform, there will be consequences which an American teenager found out the hard way. The teenager during a make-up tutorial on TikTok started talking about the plight of Uighur Muslims in China which quickly went viral and was subsequently watched by millions.
TikTok is a menace to society and in recent times it has become a safe-haven for criminals, sexual-offenders and profane individuals to broadcast vulgar, misleading, and outrageous content. For the CCP it is a great spyware tool for surveillance on its users in India particularly.
The most worrying aspect is that any video streamed on TikTok reaches millions of people within hours. As such, if the misleading videos like the ones on the Acid attack and Tabrez Ansari are not restricted, the after-effects can be catastrophic. The government needs to jump in on the issue now, before its too late.