These user-created videos that often contain memes, lip-syncing songs and sometimes sleazy posts regularly find ways to other popular social media sites including Facebook, WhatsApp and ShareChat. These are the platforms where most adult social media users are now getting introduced to TikTok.
For the young generation though, especially the teenagers and even younger kids, the app needs no introduction.
In fact, according to a new report from mobile app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, out of the 18.8 crore new users that TikTok added globally in the first quarter of 2019, 8.86 crore were from India.
Globally, TikTok has far crossed 1.1 billion installs and in the first quarter of 2019, it emerged as the third most installed app in the world, ranking behind only Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, the analysis showed.
But how do you explain the dramatic rise of this app owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance?
"The rise of TikTok (formerly Musical.ly), highlights where the future of the Internet in India is: video," leading tech policy and media consultant Prasanto K. Roy told IANS.
"Of the 500 million smartphone and mobile broadband users in India, well over 300 million consume predominantly or only video. And as we get the next 200 million online by 2020, the video-only share will rise to over 70 per cent," he added, indicating the potential for further growth of video sharing apps in the country.
So far, the big drivers of Internet adoption in India have been WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook, with additional help from shopping and taxi apps, and some streaming services such as Hotstar.
"No other app before Musical.ly/Tik Tok really went to a video-only, and especially an interactive video platform. For instance, its 'react' feature lets users to film their reaction to a video and its 'duet' feature allows users to film a video aside another video," Roy added.
Another reason for its growth is that the app allows people to express themselves even if they do not have the gift of the gab. So anyone who feel a little ostracized in platforms such as Facebook and Twitter may find solace on TikTok.
"TikTok caters to those who feel left out on other primarily-text platforms, either because of literacy or language inadequacy," Roy pointed out.
However, the growth of TikTok has not been without its share of controversies.
Hearing a petition filed by an advocate, the Madras High Court earlier this month asked the Centre to ban the app, saying it "encourages pornography" and is spoiling the future of youths and the minds of children.
TikTok on Friday said as part of its commitment towards providing a positive in-app environment for its users in India, it had removed over six million videos that have violated its "Community Guidelines".
TikTok also said it has stopped allowing users below 13 years to login and create an account on the platform.
"Unfortunately, social media has been an unsafe space and a platform like this (TikTok) which draws children in, and therefore possible predators, needs to be used with care," Roy said.
ByteDance -- touted to be among the world's most valuable startups with investors like SoftBank, General Atlantic, KKR and Sequoia on board -- also offers platforms like Helo and Vigo Video in India.
Speaking to PTI, ByteDance Director (International Public Policy) Helena Lersch said the company has been strengthening its content moderation policies over the last many months.
"We are obviously disappointed by the current developments, but we are also very optimistic that we will resolve this issue. We remain committed to our Indian users. As a company, we are looking to invest USD 1 billion over the next three years in India, that is how bullish we will remain to be here," she said.
The company would also be increasing the number of employees in India to 1,000 people by the end of this year.
TikTok, which allows users to create short videos and share them, has more than 120 million users in India and is popular among youngsters.
The Madras High Court on April 3 had directed the Centre to ban TikTok app, saying it was evident from media reports that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through such mobile apps.
Following the Supreme Court's refusal to stay the Madras High Court order, tech giants Google and Apple removed TikTok from their app stores in India to prohibit further downloads of the app.
Those who have already downloaded the app would be able to continue using it on their phones.
Lersch declined to comment on court proceedings as the matter is subjudice. The hearing of the matter is scheduled for April 22 in the Supreme Court and for April 24 in the Madras High Court.
India is a critical market for social media platforms given the large population of 1.3 billion people.
With increasing availability of affordable smartphones and cheap data plans, the country is also the largest mobile data consumer market globally -- an opportunity that global tech companies are vying to tap into.
"We, as a company, abide by local laws, but we also want to be culturally appropriate. We have a content moderation team in India. We increased the capacity of our content moderation team globally by 400 per cent last year because we were prepared for the growth," she added.
According to her, the company has a a two-step approach for content moderation.
"First is a tech approach -- a machine learning tool that filters content and then it goes to a content moderation team. In India, the team speaks 14 languages. I think, it is fundamentally important that the team is based in the country and speaks local languages to make culturally relevant decisions," she said.
Around six million videos have been taken off the platform for violating its community guidelines, she added.
Besides planned USD 1 billion investment, Lersche said the company would be ramping up headcount to 1,000 people by December 2019.
"(About) 25 per cent of that will be just content moderation, which means there is full-time moderation staff based in India...We have around 250 full-time staff (right now) but we are very growing that rapidly," she added.
The apex court Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna refused to pass any order in the matter.
The Madras High Court earlier this month passed an interim order banning mobile app citing inappropriate and pornographic content.
On April 17, the high court refused to stay the ban on the plea filed by Chinese company Bytedance, which owns TikTok. It appointed Arvind Datar as amicus curiae in the case and posted the matter for hearing on April 24.
Challenging the order in the Supreme Court, TikTok claimed it was based on exaggerations made by the petitioner.
Through its counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi it also contended that problems faced by it were exactly those faced by other social media platforms and selective action against TikTok was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court last week declined to stay the Madras High Court order and listed the matter for April 22.
Deciding the case filed by advocate Muthukumar, the bench vacated its interim order banning the app, subject to conditions that pornographic videos will not be uploaded on it, failing with the contempt of court proceedings would begin.
Early this month, the high court, on a petition filed by the advocate, issued an interim order to the Central government banning downloading of the app in India and restricted the media from telecasting videos taken using the app.
The high court had passed an interim order banning the app citing inappropriate and pornographic content.
Tamil Nadu's Information Technology Minister M. Manikandan had earlier said that the state would write to the Central government seeking a ban on the app in India.
The high court had appointed leading lawyer Arvind Datar as an independent counsel to the court.
On an appeal filed by the Chinese company, the Supreme Court, on April 22, asked the Madras High Court to decide on TikTok's plea for an interim relief by April 24, failing which the ban imposed on the mobile app will stand lifted.
The apex court had refused to pass any order in the matter.
The Madras High Court's Madurai Bench on Wednesday lifted the ban on video mobile application TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, subject to certain conditions.
Deciding the case filed by advocate Muthukumar, the bench vacated its interim order banning the app, subject to conditions that pornographic videos will not be uploaded on it, failing which contempt of court proceedings would begin.
"We are glad about this decision and we believe it is also greatly welcomed by our thriving community in India, who use TikTok as a platform to showcase their creativity," TikTok said in a statement.
Early this month the high court, on a petition filed by the advocate, issued an interim order to the Central government banning downloading of the app in India and restricted the media from telecasting videos taken using the app.
The high court had passed an interim order banning the app citing inappropriate and pornographic content.
Tamil Nadu's Information Technology Minister M. Manikandan had earlier said that the state would write to the Central government seeking a ban on the app in India.
The high court had appointed leading lawyer Arvind Datar as an independent counsel to the court.
On an appeal filed by the Chinese company, the Supreme Court, on April 22, asked the Madras High Court to decide on TikTok's plea for interim relief by April 24, failing which the ban imposed on the mobile app will stand lifted.
The apex court had refused to pass any order in the matter.
TikTok on wednesday said it was "committed to continuously enhancing" its safety features.
"We are grateful for the opportunity to continue serving our users better. While we're pleased that our efforts to fight against misuse of the platform has been recognised, the work is never 'done' on our end," TikTok added.
In the financial year 2019, ByteDance registered Rs 43.7 crore in revenue and Rs 3.4 crore in net profit in India, reports Inc42.com.
With over 200 million users, India is the biggest market for TikTok, where it has also courted several controversies over the past few months.
ByteDance recently announced to set up a data centre in India.
"As a testimony to ByteDance's recognition of India's efforts to frame a new data protection legislation, we taking a significant step towards establishing a data centre in India," said the startup, which also owns the social media platform Helo.
"We are now in the process of examining options for safe, secure and reliable services for our Indian users within Indian borders," it said.
It may take ByteDance 6-18 months to set up the data centre at a cost of $100 million. The investment will be part of the company's commitment to invest $1 billion in India over three years.
"Since the launch of our platforms in India, we have stored our Indian users' data at industry-leading third-party data centres in the US and Singapore. We believe the time has come to take the next big leap," the company added.
ByteDance now has a portfolio of applications available in over 150 markets and 75 languages.
The company on October 28 denied reports that it plans to go public in Hong Kong as early as the first quarter of next year.
The Financial Times reported that ByteDance, which was founded in 2012 and is backed by investors including SoftBank, is preparing for a public listing.