TikTok “continues to comply with all data privacy
and security requirements under Indian law and
has not shared any information of our users in
India with any foreign government, including
the Chinese government,” the company’s India
chief, Nikhil Gandhi, said in a statement.
This isn’t the first time TikTok has been banned in
India — the Madras High Court in the south Indian
state of Tamil Nadu banned it last year over hate
speech concerns, but quickly vacated its order.
Chinese-owned apps have found a fast-
growing market in India, with some companies
creating India-specific apps that have exploded
in popularity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government
has used the country’s 500 million internet users
— second only to China — as a lure in getting
tech giants including Twitter to localize Indians’
data. It is expected to sponsor data localization
legislation later this year.
Among the list of newly-banned apps, Alibaba’s
UC Browser, Meitu’s Beauty Plus camera app
and Bigo’s Likee video editing app are among
the top 100 most downloaded apps in India,
according to app intelligence firm App Annie.
India is one of TikTok’s largest markets. As of
April, 30% of TikTok’s 2 billion downloads were
from India, according to app data analytics firm
Sensor Tower.
Bytedance also operates the now-banned Helo
social networking app, which was created for
the Indian market and has over 50 million users.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao
Lijian said China was very concerned about the
Indian move and seeking more information.