Covid impact: TikTok stares at a gloomy India picture

Bengaluru: Fewer people downloaded short videos app TikTok in April and May compared to the previous two months, amid reduced marketing and advertising budgets due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a persistent anti-China sentiment among users and calls for it to be banned on popular app stores due to objectionable content.

Data shared with ET by app intelligence firm Sensor Tower show that downloads of the social media platform fell 34% in April and 28% up to May 23, after growing by 8% in March and 7% in February.

While 35.7 million users downloaded TikTok in March, the number of users who downloaded it in April came down to 23.5 million and further to 17 million till May 23, according to Sensor Tower data.