Yahoo TV

STORY: As TikTok fans in the United States worry about losing access to the wildly-popular short video app,

there are lessons they can learn from their Indian counterparts.

India banned TikTok in 2020.

At the time, the government's decision shocked the country’s 200 million users.

Online content creator Nitigya Joshi says the ban caused real financial pains for millions.

"It was a very struggle time for all our influencers because they all were dependent on this particular app for their payments and their daily lifestyle. The moment this app was banned, they suffered a lot, few of them were crying, we saw them. It took a lot of efforts again to put themselves in other social media platforms.”

But in the four years since, many have found other alternatives to TikTok.

Sanjivani Sharma started off as a 16-year-old school girl putting her music and dance videos on TikTok.

She says nowadays social media influencers no longer keep all their eggs in the same basket.

"We are always ready to rock and roll on any social media platform. If one platform closes, we are always ready. If Instagram will close… because our earning is coming from that particular source, we will shift to YouTube Shorts. If YouTube Shorts closes, we are definitely sure another app will come."