Tik Tok Responds To The Ban, Says They Have Been Invited By Government To Submit Clarifications

On Monday, the Indian government banned 59 mobile applications that have its origin in China citing the reason for protecting the data and privacy of the people of India. This comes in the wake of the military face-off between India and China along the eastern Ladakh region.

For safety, security, defense, sovereignty and integrity of India and in order to protect the data of the people of India, the Government of India banned these applications. This has been long requested by the social media users after the Chinese military had a face-off with the Indian military killing 20 Indian soldiers.

The 59 Chinese applications include the hugely popular content creating app Tik Tok, UC browser, Helo, Likee, CamScanner, Vivo Video, Mi Video Call, Clash of Kings along with the e-commerce platforms like Club Factory and Shein. The Information Technology Ministry said that it had received many complaints from various sources and also had received reports of the misuse of some of the applications that would steal and surreptitiously transmitting users data in an unauthorized manner to servers that have locations outside India. The IT Ministry issued a statement which read,

“The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.”

Tik Tok Responds

Meanwhile, the company Tik Tok has responded to the move and released a statement. The company also said that the government has invited them for a meeting with the stakeholders. The company is expected to respond to the ban. The head of Tik Tok India, Nikhil Gandhi also said the company continues to comply with all the data privacy policy and security of Indian law. It also said that it has not shared any information of its users with any government including the Chinese government. Its statement read,

“The Government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including Tik Tok and we are in the process of complying with it. We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications. Tik Tok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information about our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government. Further, if we are requested to in the future, we would not do so. We place the highest importance on user privacy and integrity.”