Following the immense popularity of China's ByteDance-owned TikTok, which was banned by the Indian government in June 2020, short-video platforms have become a rage with homegrown apps like Chingari and Moj trying to fill the big void left by TikTok's absence in India. Meta-owned Instagram now has its own short video platform (SVP) Instagram Reels and Google-owned YouTube also joined the bandwagon with its YouTube Shorts as digital advertising is booming.
While everybody talks about how short video platforms are engaging and expected to make crores in advertisement revenue in the next few years, there have been fewer discussions about making and consuming taboo content or indecent content on these short video platforms. Here is where the Singapore-headquartered and "Make in India" short video app Tiki is intending to steal the thunder from the likes of YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels with strict monitoring for adult or violent content and quality checks, Ian Goh, CEO, Tiki told APB Live in an exclusive interview.
"We've been strictly monitoring content since day one. Because of which, there were a a lot of creators who joined the platform and they also decided to quit the platform, because we weren't allowing them to use any cuss words, for example. We weren't allowing them to show a gun. We still aren't allowing people to show any harmful substance and we aren't allowing people to post content with any sort of violence," Goh told ABP Live in a freewheeling chat.
Highlighting how Tiki is different from its rival short video platforms, Goh said: "So one of the biggest USPs that we have is that we have a very strong moderation team and with one slight 'fault' or 'violation' your video is out (of the platform). We don't ban the account, but we send them a notification, that this is how and why your video violates our policies."
Owned by Singapore-based DOL Technology Pvt. Ltd., and founded in 2020, Tiki is also against allowing or promoting adult content or mature content on the platform.
Asked if the content moderation on Tiki also means not encouraging nudity or adult content, the company CEO replied: "Of course it does. I think it even applies to men, for example, you aren't asked to like show your body. Videos and content are checked by machines algorithm, but we do set the rules in a way to ensure that the content has no no nudity, 100 per cent no nudity at all. We cannot have that at Tiki."
Asked how the Singapore-headquartered Tiki has become a "make in India" short video app, Goh replied: "We are storing most of the user data here in India. Singapore servers are just to test out certain features and functions."
Unlike most competing short video apps, Tiki also has different levels of verification badges, for creators. Currently, there are four levels of verification badges on Tiki. Tiki's rival Instagram Reels, which is a part of Meta-owned Instagram relies on submitting a government ID to verify an account on the platform.