The Indian government has decided to retain its ban on 59 Chinese apps, including the short-form video-sharing app TikTok. The decision came after a review of responses from the companies behind the apps on issues such as compliance and privacy.
When India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) first imposed the ban in June 2020, it gave the companies a chance to explain their position on issues including whether they censored content, lobbied influencers or worked on behalf of foreign governments.
The apps, including TikTok, Tencent Holding's WeChat and Alibaba's UC Browser, were asked to respond to 77 questions from the ministry in July. This was in the middle of rising tensions between India and China following a border clash between the two.
After reviewing the replies, the Indian government told the companies that their response did not adequately address the cybersecurity concerns charged against them.
In late June last year, the Indian government blocked a host of apps that had links to China, bringing the total number of banned Chinese apps to over 200.
"This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order," said the ministry in a statement.
The bans came amid geopolitical tension between both countries. Earlier in the same month, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a military clash in the Himalayas. This created a "Boycott China" sentiment on social media in the country, with a number of people posting videos showing the destruction of Chinese-made TVs, smartphones and other products.
Prior to that, in April, India also made a change to its foreign investment policy concerning Chinese investors. The policy required these investors – who have been investing billions in Indian startups in recent years – to first seek approval from New Delhi before they could continue to invest in Indian companies. (Related: Communist Chinese tech giant TikTok suspends girl's account for talking about detention camps, just like Facebook and Twitter are doing to users trying to expose deep state child trafficking.)
TikTok looking to get back in India
In spite of the ban, TikTok and other Chinese apps still maintain large userbases in India. According to mobile insight firm App Annie, TikTok had over 5 million monthly active users (MAU) in India in December 2020. These users currently use specialized software, such as virtual private networks (VPN) to access TikTok and other banned apps.
TikTok said in a statement that it was reviewing the government's decision.
"We continually strive to comply with local laws and regulations and do our best to address any concerns the government may have," a TikTok spokesperson said. "Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users remains to be our topmost priority."
But the ban itself does not seem to have made much of an impact on TikTok parent company ByteDance's financials. On Tuesday, Jan. 26, The Information reported that the company more than doubled its revenue last year to $37 billion. It also increased its operating profit from $4 billion in 2019 to $ 7 billion last year.
This is likely due to the fact that India contributes very little to the bottom line of companies like ByteDance. The country has instead become an "MAU farm," according to Indian serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah.
That said, ByteDance is still exploring ways to officially return to India. Back in August, reports came out saying that the company was talking with Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, hoping to get the latter to invest in TikTok's India business. But no official word from both companies on this deal has been made public.
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