Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • NPR

    'TikTok Changed My Life': India's Ban On Chinese App Leaves Video Makers Stunned

    Some Indians became known TikTok personalities and even earned money and gifts for their content. The government banned the app as tensions flare with China.
    by Sushmita Pathak Jul 16, 2020 5 minutes
    Youths perform in front of a cellphone camera while making a TikTok video on the roof of their residence in Hyderabad, India, in February. India's government has banned 59 Chinese-owned apps including TikTok.

    When India imposed coronavirus restrictions in late March, Arman Rathod's work dried up.

    The 29-year-old had made a living washing cars and painting statues of Hindu gods in his hometown of Valsad, in western India. Broke and bored under lockdown, Rathod and his friends started recording videos of themselves in April on the social media app TikTok.

    Dressed in a baggy button-down, Rathod would gyrate on a dusty patch of ground under a tree in his village, while a friend filmed him. His 15-second dance videos, set to Indian pop songs, went viral. Within weeks, he amassed 7 million followers.

    He made money off it — enough to support his family during the pandemic — through ad sponsorships. Fans sent him gifts. TikTok even sent him an iPhone.

    "My dreams were coming true!" he tells NPR by phone from

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from NPR

    NPR2 min read
    Columbia Students Barricade Themselves In Campus Building; China's EV Vehicles
    Pro-Palestinian student protesters have occupied a campus building. Electric vehicles are the newest front of competition between the U.S. and China.
    NPR3 min readInternational Relations
    Protesters At Columbia University Have Begun Occupying A Campus Building
    Students began occupying Hamilton Hall early Tuesday morning. The university's public safety department urged people to avoid coming to the Morningside campus Tuesday if they could.
    NPR4 min read
    Scientists Restore Brain Cells Impaired By A Rare Genetic Disorder
    A therapy that restores brain cells impaired by a rare genetic disorder may offer a strategy for treating conditions like autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia.

    Related Books & Audiobooks