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More than seven months after India issued a nationwide ban on TikTok, the app is drastically downsizing in the country. Tuesday, Nikkei Asia reported that TikTok was “essentially withdrawing” from India, citing sources close to the company.
Contacted for comment, a spokesperson for TikTok confirmed it was downsizing in India, but disputed details of Nikkeireport of.
In a statement, a spokesperson for TikTok said The edge: “Given the lack of feedback from the government on how to resolve this issue in the next seven months, it is with deep sadness that we have decided to downsize in India … [We] hope to have the chance to relaunch TikTok in India to support the hundreds of millions of users, artists, storytellers, educators and performers.
It is not known how many employees TikTok will retain. Nikkei reported that “most” local employees were to be made redundant. Pressed by The edge, the company did not specify how many India-based employees would remain.
India was previously a big market for TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance: 30% of TikTok downloads came from India in April 2020. As of June, the app had around 167 million users in the world. country.
TikTok has been banned in India since June 29. In its statement, the country’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the apps were “engaged in activities detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India, in defense of India. India, state security and public order ”.
ByteDance, at the time, did not indicate its intention to withdraw. Following the announcement, the head of TikTok India released a declaration alleging that the company did not share Indian user information with the Chinese government and that its practices complied with India’s requirements for privacy and data security. “We have been invited to meet with relevant government stakeholders to have the opportunity to respond and submit clarifications,” the statement said. “We place the utmost importance on the confidentiality and integrity of users.”
This was not TikTok’s first feud with the Indian government. Indian lawmakers, including Tamil Nadu’s information technology minister, called for a ban on the app in early 2019, citing concerns about the behavior of teens and young adults on the service. Apple and Google pulled the app from their respective stores in India in mid-April, following a state court application.
This ban was lifted a little over a week later, and had no impact on people who were already using TikTok; it simply prevented new downloads. Even so, TikTok said it suffered losses of up to $ 500,000 each day the ban was in effect.
“We are committed to continually improving our security features as a testament to our continued commitment to our users in India,” said ByteDance, after the ban was lifted.
Other countries have long-standing security issues with TikTok as well. The Trump administration tried to block transactions between ByteDance and American companies last year, but was stopped by the courts. Several US government agencies have banned the use of the app on government-issued devices.
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