What started off as a niche teen choreography app has evolved into becoming the world’s fastest growing social media platform.
With Arab TikTok creators flourishing on the app, along with global Gen Z Muslims – the divide between older millennials on Instagram, and younger Gen Z and millennials on TikTok has never been bigger. Carrying its own unique set of in jokes, memes, songs, catchphrases and viral trends: it’s become a phenomenon unto itself.
In a recent study lead by Route Note and published on Arab News, Saudi Arabia has ranked 8th in the world in terms of users. With the UAE ranking 11th.
Figures published on Arab News, sourced from analytics and technology consultancy firm Anavizio, state that the platform has experienced phenomenal fan growth in the GCC in recent months, “with a number of top content creators from Saudi Arabia and the UAE increasing their fanbase by a million more between February and August.”
But with a looming US TikTok ban rumoured to still be going ahead, which The Guardian called “an existential threat to the internet”, regional creators are (understandably) nervous about what the future might hold for their new safespace. Whether it’s in a state of flux or on the verge of deletion, we will never know until it’s unfortunately too late, so what can regional users do in the meantime?
Instagram launched ‘reels’ earlier this month, so migrating onto Instagram is also an option, but not one that many Gen Z are interesting in. Our advice? Save your videos, and don’t worry either way.
