Aspirational Politics of Talent Acquisition: Entrepreneurial Limits and Indian Short Video Platforms

Local short video platforms in India such as Moj and Josh have encountered mixed success in wooing talented creators and new users to their platforms. Some of the challenges they have faced suggest the limits of aspirational politics which is entangled with aspects of authenticity and relatability as well as the political economy of start-up apps and platform capitalisms. I endeavor to understand TikTok’s success in India and also comprehend in what ways Indian short video platforms tried to replicate TikTok’s algorithmic logics and creator/talent acquisition strategies within the cultural context of vernacular creativity in India. The article connects discussions of the popularity of short video platforms with recruitment strategies to tap influential content creators in provincial India. The article contends that while theorizing aspirational politics, it is not enough to study (in isolation) how creators aspire to be more successful and gain more followers and influence. Aspirations are also actively fashioned and nurtured by the platform’s talent scouts, content directors, and studio heads. The Indian government along with corporations also creates aspirational discourses. I conceptualize aspirational politics and entrepreneurial limits in these slippages and ruptures across individual desires and state-corporate-platform discourses of aspiration and entrepreneurship.