TikTok has been facing several controversies spanning several countries. Now, India is banning the platform along with several other apps that were developed by Chinese firms.
TikTok is an incredibly popular app throughout the world. Much like Vine, users have seen celebrities emerge from the app and the content created there. Video game corporations such as PlayStation are using the platform to advertise for new games and show off new products. However, the content will no longer be reaching people in India
India has officially banned TikTok along with other 58 other apps that were created by Chinese firms. This is the first time the country, which is home to over 1.3 billion internet users, has banned such a large number of foreign apps at one time. The Indian government announced that it had banned these apps due to concerns that these apps were potentially engaging in activities that could compromise the country's national security and defense.
New Delhi has claimed that it has received many complaints from citizens who used apps like TikTok regarding their data's security and that the apps were breaching their privacy.
Many have expressed concern over TikTok's ability to access users' data on their phones. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently suggested that the US government may ban TikTok and other Chinese social media apps as India has done. Currently, China and India have been at odds since the clash at the two countries' borders in the Himalayas earlier in June.
Since the incident occurred, which left more than 20 Indian soldiers dead, a strong anti-China sentiment has spread throughout the country, and many Indian citizens are boycotting Chinese-made products such as smartphones and TVs. Before the ban, many in India left poor ratings on TikTok's Google Play Store page, to the point that Google had to remove millions of the comments.
This decision will definitely hit China hard because as much as 80% of the Chinese smartphone market is in India. The world will have to wait to see how this conflict plays out on both sides, as well as if the US will follow in India's footsteps and ban Chinese apps from its own marketplaces.
Source: Tech Crunch