How will the return of the platform benefit the industry if it does happen?

[tanjimajuha20]

On Thursday, May 2, TikTok resumed work in Russia for a couple of hours. Users' feeds were updated, and videos could be uploaded. Most likely, these were the first steps towards its "landing" in the country.

Deputy Anton Gorelkin noted in the podcast "Legal Question" that the platform has already fulfilled two of the three conditions for returning to the Russian market. It has posted an electronic form for filing complaints and registered a personal account on the Roskomnadzor website. In order to officially and legally earn money in Russia, it only needs to open a full-fledged representative office.

The company is currently still considering which option to choose to resume operations, Gorelkin wrote in a Telegram channel. "The first is to force users to change their virtual jurisdiction and turn a blind eye to it (as some foreign services successfully do). The second is to return officially, taking on the obligation to comply with the requirements of Russian legislation."

It is difficult to predict what strategy the platform will choose, but most likely the service will return to Russia, says Dmitry Marinichev, head of Russian Mining Company (RMC): "It seems to me that TikTok itself is now in a state where it is weighing the pros and cons. I think it will return. TikTok, like any Internet service, strives for an audience. And the meaning of its existence is to absorb the audience. Therefore, it will always strive to get into those places where it is not and from where it left. It is like a virus. Any Internet service works on this principle."

When the platform norway whatsapp number database officially left Russia in March 2022, the partial blocking hit TikTokers hard: they lost the ability to publish new content and, therefore, earn money on this social network. In search of income, they went wherever they could, continues businessman and founder of the Digital Church marketing agency Mark Khludnev:

— In fact, there are not many options, this is YouTube, this is VK. VK brings bloggers quite a good profit at the moment. After the closure of a number of social networks, everyone was afraid to go towards foreign social networks. And during this period, advertisers paid attention to VK and realized that there was an audience there, and began to attract investments in this direction. Well, and, accordingly, TikTokers went there too. The second half of TikTokers, who did not believe in VK, went to YouTube Shorts. Well, and to Instagram Reels, they did not go anywhere, despite the fact that Instagram is a social network banned in the Russian Federation (Instagram belongs to Meta - the organization is recognized as extremist and banned. - BFM), bloggers still develop in it, all the same, the lion's share of the profit is always brought by a third-party advertiser, and not internal advertising.


— It’s a very difficult question, because in this market there is, as I understand it, a very good layer of those who are against the return of this platform. These are primarily Russian social networks, which are currently developing. In general, if TikTok returns, then a good foreign service for advertisers and bloggers will return with it. There is a more familiar organization of advertising campaigns, everything is much more convenient, transparent, understandable. Therefore, everyone is actually waiting for this return, but no one believes in it anymore. This is rather the problem here.

Despite the departure of the social platform, there is still life there, albeit not as rich. Over time, users learned to bypass the application blocking, and monthly coverage only grew. According to RBC, if in October 2021 TikTok was used by 58 million Russians, then in 2022 this figure grew to 64 million. And in 2023 it reached 67 million.