Meet the Bangladeshi Tiktokers

They are all teenagers.

The boy, deep in love, dropped to his knees and pleaded with the girl. The girl, indifferent to his emotions, dismissed his pleas and walked away in slow motion, accompanied by another boy who has golden locks of hair.

Well, you cannot really walk in slow motion. The effect was created through one of the numerous functions of the now famous (or infamous) Tiktok app that young people around the world use to make videos of proposals, refusals, heartbreaks and everything that deals with the life of a teenager.

Biplob, who was recording the video, whom we can also consider the creator in this case, seemed happy with the final production. After all, showing a love triangle within the time span of a minute can be challenging.

His contentment, however, was disrupted by the approaching camera and curious faces. He and his assistants started retreating.

Then he suddenly stopped and asked, "Who are you? We do not know you. Why do you want to take our picture? You guys only bring us trouble, our parents become ashamed and mad at us because of your presentation."

His reaction took us by surprise.

In fact, it's not just Biplob, a few other groups who were shooting at Diabari became cautious of "intruders" as it was only a few days before,  on August 4, that Tiktok celebrity Opu was arrested by the police for beating up a car driver.

Since the incident , once a hub for the Likeers and Tiktokers - Dia Bari has become deserted.

The Tiktok and Likee craze

Tiktok and Likee both are social networking services based on video contents. Tiktok is a Chinese app owned by a Beijing-based company - ByteDance.

Likee, on the other hand, is a Singapore-based app owned by Bigo Technology. Likee has an office in Bangladesh to manage its users.

Though the apps are similar, users claim it is comparatively tougher to gain popularity in Tiktok than Likee.

There are five or six groups spread along  the roads and lanes of Dia Bari residential area making videos now. Members of the most daring group among them managed to climb the top of the dome of Dia Bari bridge. Failing to communicate with them, this correspondent approached Biplob and his pals.

It took a little time to convince them that vilifying or defaming them was not our intention.

Biplob did enrol in college last year but could not continue his studies because of financial constraints. He got a job at the metro rail construction site. His life was all about work, home, sleep, and repeating that routine. Biplob's  routine was mundane and tiring, until he came to know  of Tiktok a few months back through Facebook.

Downloading the app is not a hard process when you have an android phone; it was not difficult for Biplob either. Primarily, he used to make videos at home with his friends. It would lift his mood.

Then he and his friends decided to take it to the next level by setting their videos to interesting backdrops. So they started coming to Dia Bari in groups. This love triangle group, all of whom are aged between 13-18, has been making Tiktok and Likee videos for the last three months.

When we asked them about earning from the videos, they looked surprised. "We do it because it is fun. Here, we get followers easily and become famous. But we do not earn money from it," said the protagonist of the short video Rukhshana who studied up to class five then started working. (She refused to say what she does for a living.)

Rukshana only has a few thousand followers so far. She plans to make more videos with her phone. However, the recent incident surrounding Opu Bai has unsettled her plans.

This correspondent called one of the celebrities of Tiktok -  Jamir Shwapno - who has around 2 lakh followers on Tiktok and some three and half lakh followers on Likee.

Jamir is a makeup artist by profession who has been using Tiktok for a year. He used to make funny videos. But the ban on Tiktok imposed by the government for a few months shifted Jamir's appetite to making short-span make-up tutorials.

On Likee, he earned a crown (a badge issued by the app) when he took up challenges set by Likee authorities. He is using the platform to market himself.

"I get a lot of clients here. I can earn money if I agree to go live and take greater challenges on Likee. But I do not have enough time to do that," he said.

He added, celebrities earn from these platforms when companies put up advertisements on their videos.

"Sometimes, famous Tiktok celebrities throw meetup programs and charge a registration fee. They earn money from that. I do not like that culture. They end up in mishaps like Opu and Mamun incidents (a meeting of Mamun's followers ended up in a fight)," he said.

These Tiktokers also seemed to hold a grudge against Opu and Mamun groups for the negative image they have brought upon their culture.

Tiktok and Likee under the scanner

Starting from famous YouTubers like PewDiePie to The Bong Guy, no one has spared Tiktokers in roasting them, and yet,  their popularity continues to grow.

Where India and Bangladesh are going back and forth between the decision- "to ban or not to ban" Tiktok, Trump has waged a war against China on Tiktok.

While some people point to the vulgar, misogynist content which deserves to be banned, some others point towards the funny content that is genuinely entertaining.

Some are also educational. For example, content produced  by a US teenager who talks about concentration camps in China in her make-up tutorial went viral. Tiktok authorities had to face criticism after banning that video.

However, despite these never ending controversies, users of these apps are increasing every day. There are respectively 500 and 115 million users of Tiktok and Likee.

Starting from normal residents to celebrities, everyone is making videos.

The users and fans claim that the humourous and easy-to-consume nature of these videos is what makes      it this popular.