A few months ago, Congress passed a bill proposing a ban on TikTok. After being passed in the Senate unanimously, it was signed by Joe Biden himself (although it’s doubtful he knew what he was signing in the first place).
To fill the void left in many people’s hearts after TikTok was banned, hundreds, if not thousands, of fake TikTok clones flooded the App Store. There’s TickTalk, TokTik, and even TukTuk, just to name a few. Each one of these apps claims that they are the next big thing, the next TikTok, but none of them have the same familiarity to consumers as TikTok. Many of these TikTok clones cater to an incredibly niche market.
For example, the most successful one, TickTalk, started out well enough but soon devolved into people just talking about the weather. “I mean, it’s nice outside, but not too nice, you know?” says one creator. “It’s like, sunny but not too sunny. I give it a solid 7 out of 10.” Another one, TokTik is purely devoted to old TikTok videos played in reverse and upside-down. TukTuk is just videos about Tuk-Tuks (motorized two or three wheel passenger cars) , and more specifically tuk-tuk racing (which is surprisingly entertaining).
With these clones being so low quality, it is no surprise that in just a few days people have already taken to the streets protesting the ban. Signs read: “Give me hair theory or give me death,” and “Don’t take away my Lorax dances :(” as well as others. And while TikTok competitors like YouTube Shorts and Instagram reels have gotten much more attention, many TikTok users still yearning for the old TikTok have turned to some more unconventional sites. “I just posted a video of me doing the griddy on LinkedIn,” says one online user. “I know it’s not the same, but it’s better than nothing. I was widerawwy gwiddying on WinkedIn.”
With each passing day, the number of TikTok clones only exponentially grows. There are too many at this point for more people to keep track of. Congress is debating a possible bill to stop all these TikTok clones from existing. People are furious and are already barely able to cope with not being stimulated every 5 seconds. But, rest assured, the government will do anything to stop the Chinese government from spying on all of our best TikTok dances.
