Experts: India's TikTok clones like Moj and Josh have failed to replicate TikTok's success, and Instagram and YouTube will take over India's short-video segment
Creators are instead gravitating toward Instagram and YouTube, which may eventually be the winners in the Indian short-video segment. Tweets: @glenngabe , @restofworld , @restofworld , @restofworld , @cengizyar , @itikaspunit , @restofworld , and @anupkaphle Tweets: Glenn Gabe / @glenngabe : India's TikTok clones like Moj & Josh have failed to replicate TikTok's success, & Instagram & YouTube will take over India's short-video segment “Moj & Josh together have 300M monthly active users. But YouTube has 325+ MAU in India, & Instagram ~400M.” https://restofworld.org/... https://twitter.com/... @restofworld : When India banned TikTok in 2020, many homegrown TikTok clones hoped to fill the void. But Instagram and YouTube, TikTok's American rivals, are the ones reaping the benefits https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : Before it was banned, TikTok was wildly popular in India, with 200 million monthly active users in the country. India's many TikTok copycats haven't been able to replicate its success https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : “Indian short video apps ... have to pay every celebrity and top content creator to come onto their platform. And that's not sustainable. The moment the influencers stop getting the checks, they will stop posting content on Indian apps.” https://restofworld.org/... Cengiz / @cengizyar : Before it was banned, TikTok was wildly popular in India, with roughly 200 million monthly active users in the country. India's many TikTok copycats haven't been able to replicate its success. @Adnanmbhat explains for @restofworld https://restofworld.org/... @itikaspunit : There are so many short video apps in India now, but none of them enjoy the kind of crazy following that #TikTok did. Instead, “everyone is on Instagram & YouTube — be it the biggest celebrities or your neighbor next door.” @Adnanmbhat for @restofworld https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : When India banned TikTok in 2020, many homegrown TikTok clones hoped to fill the void. Instead, TikTok's American rivals are the ones reaping the benefits https://restofworld.org/... Anup Kaphle / @anupkaphle : “Some may even call that cringe content.” When India banned Tiktok, a number of homegrown apps saw an opportunity to fill that gap and make millions. But a year on, they're all struggling. @Adnanmbhat reports from Delhi https://restofworld.org/...
Context & Ripple Effects
When India banned TikTok in 2020, local developers framed the moment as a chance to take back control of the country's digital economy from foreign rivals, spawning a wave of homegrown short-video apps (Indian developers using the ban to experiment with new apps). Two years on, the verdict is in: Moj and Josh together claim roughly 300M monthly active users, but that trails Instagram at ~400M and YouTube at 325+M in India — and experts say the clones never replicated what made TikTok work.
The gap is structural rather than just scale. The Indian clones leaned on paying creators to attract content, a model analysts describe as unsustainable once the payments stop, while Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts inherited audiences already inside those apps. The rivalry between global platforms and local challengers dates back to before the ban (TikTok versus YouTube in India amid anti-China sentiment), and the incumbents are now positioned to absorb the segment outright.
First-order effects
- Creators are gravitating toward Instagram and YouTube, leaving Moj and Josh with a combined 300M monthly active users that undercuts both Instagram (~400M) and YouTube (325+M) in India.
- The clones' pay-to-attract-content model becomes unsustainable if creator payments stop, since the content supply was bought rather than organic.
Second-order effects
- Advertiser budgets and brand deals follow creators to Instagram and YouTube, squeezing the revenue side of Moj and Josh just as their acquisition costs stay fixed.
- YouTube's Shorts flywheel extends beyond metro users — hinterland creators are already going viral on Shorts, pulling the exact regional audience the Indian clones were built to serve.
Third-order effects
- The pattern suggests a ban removes a competitor but does not hand its market to domestic substitutes: without an organic creator economy, state-protected apps lose to incumbents whose ecosystems predate the ban.
- If the trajectory holds, India's short-video segment consolidates around two American platforms, reviving the question some fans still ask about whether alternatives ever matched TikTok (lingering doubts over the 2020 ban) — and raising the stakes for any future policy on foreign platform dominance.
The trend: India's short-video market is consolidating around incumbent global platforms as subsidy-fueled domestic TikTok clones built after the 2020 ban fail to sustain their creator economies.