On June 29, 2020, as thunderstorms swept Mumbai and every day Covid-19 circumstances in India surged by virtually 20,000, thousands and thousands of individuals started experiencing a flood of community errors on their cell units. TikTok—and almost 60 different Chinese apps—had been pushed offline on the earth’s largest democracy. A sweeping authorities crackdown on Chinese tech had begun, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi issuing bans on extensively fashionable apps and providers to guard the “sovereignty and integrity of India.”

What has unfolded in India within the three years since foreshadows what may await U.S. shoppers and tech corporations if Washington imposes its personal long-discussed ban on TikTok dad or mum ByteDance. In India, TikTok’s loss turned many startups’ achieve. On the identical day that the federal government issued its ban on Chinese apps, Bengaluru-based Mohalla Tech launched Moj, an unapologetic TikTok clone. A month later, in July, got here one other knockoff, Mumbai-based MX TakaTak, which garnered a billion every day views in 30 days whereas championing a catchy slogan: “Made in India, for you.” Two months later got here Josh, the same video platform that topped a billion views in 45 days.