TikTok’s exit from Hong Kong was largely met with disinterest by the locals who distrust the Chinese social media platform, but the app was embraced as a tool by many foreign domestic workers as a form of escapism from the stresses of their daily lives.
In between fulfilling their domestic helper responsibilities, they used the app to film creative and witty insights into their lives.
However this week TikTok, owned by ByteDance from China, said it would no longer work in Hong Kong after a new security law was imposed.
Joanne, a domestic worker from the Philippines said the app “helped her release some stress” and that she was “a bit sad” to see it go.
TikTok is so popular among people like Joanne, that the hashtag #ofwhk, which stands for “overseas foreign worker Hong Kong” was views almost 12 million times on the app.
Even recruitment agencies are using the app to communicate and recruit migrant workers due to it’s huge user base.
However, in a city where anti-Chinese sentiment are heavy, very few trust TikTok’s assurances that it doesn’t share user information with the Chinese authorities.
Joanne added: “We find TikTok very entertaining, but I know even if TikTok will be pulled out of Hong Kong, a lot of Filipino domestic workers can still manage. We always find ways to entertain ourselves.”