Story:
Founder Statements:
Recently, Tik Tok founder Zhang Yiming stated that he created this app for unstable and jobless people he laughed and said he never thought there are too many these kind of Indians.
Other Versions
Tik Tok founder Zhang Yiming stated that he created this app for just jobless and unstable people. He laughed and said he never thought India had too much of these kinds of people.
Fact Check:
A picture message popular online claims Tik Tok founder Zhang Yiming stated he created the App for unstable and jobless people and did not think there are too many of those in India. Slightly different version of the message in fact claims the Tik Tok founder laughed at the finding in India. No, the claims are not true and explained here.
Did Tik Tok Founder Zhang Yiming Call Indians Jobless?
The claims in question are doing rounds online since at least December 2019 through various image sharing and social media platforms like Twitter and WhatsApp. They resurfaced again in May 2020 after not very credible websites like gistmania.com and ghgossip.com published the stories asking readers to comment/discuss what they think about it. They mentioned the Tik Tok founder created the mobile application to serve jobless and unstable people in the community. The stories also mentioned he took swipe at India’s poverty rate, patronization on the app saying he never expected so many of ‘these kind of people’ in India.
![Image of story on social media sites]()
Image of story on social media sites ![Image of story on social media sites]()
![Image of story on social media sites]()
Firstly, there are no credible reports to suggest Tik Tok founder referred to Indian users as Jobless and unstable in any of his interviews. Zhang Yiming is pretty secretive and not very active on social media platforms. Known as Douyin in China, Tik Tok is popular across world and has major user base in India. So, it is unlikely the founder shall make such controversial statements/remarks. In December 2019, these messages in fact appeared in memes and also social media posts asking Indians to uninstall the app. So, the story is either fake news or distorted statement.
![Image of Story on meme pages, asking users to uninstall Tik Tok]()
Story on meme pages, asking users to uninstall Tik Tok
Tik Tok Controversy
Zhang Yiming’s Beijing-based startup ByteDance owns Tik Tok and has huge following in India, United States, Indonesia and elsewhere. However, there were security concerns in using the app in October 2019. Two senior US senators called for a government review of the app. They said it could leave users vulnerable to spying from Beijing. Tik Tok was briefly banned by an Indian court over claims it was promoting pornography among children. Moreover, there was call for ban on usage of Chinese apps after global outbreak of deadly Coronavirus from China. Earlier, excessive usage of Tik Tok led to some tragic deaths and accidents in India and other countries.
To conclude, Tik Tok founder Zhang Yiming did not say he created the app for unstable and jobless people. He did not laugh saying there are too many people of that kind in India. Perhaps, the story originated as some kind of satire or meme on the short video making Chinese app. It was later used to encourage users to uninstall the app.
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
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