India's TikTok stars feel pained by government app ban

Geetha Sridhar, 54, who used to post over a dozen videos on video-sharing app TikTok, and her daughter Sarada Sridhar are seen in a mobile phone's screen as they make a video that they said will upload on an Indian app, after India banned dozens of Chinese apps including TikTok following a border clash between the two nations, inside their house in Mumbai, India, July 1, 2020. REUTERS/Hemanshi Kamani

Geetha Sridhar never used to enter her kitchen in Mumbai without her smartphone. The 54-year-old homemaker used to post dozens of short videos daily on the Chinese video app TikTok, mostly of herself cooking traditional recipes.

With 1 million TikTok followers, she earned an average 50,000 rupees ($662) a month from companies who paid her to use their products.