TikTok return to India? Govt reacts as there is buzz over Chinese app return

Earlier, some users had apparently asserted that they can access the website of the Chinese-owned ByteDance company in India.

Following reports that some users were gaining access to the homepage of TikTok's website in India, ministry sources in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology made a clarification that the ban on the Chinese app is still intact.

Earlier, some users had reportedly claimed that they could visit ByteDance-owned company's website in India, although the TikTok app itself remained unavailable on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

"Government of India has not issued any unblocking order for TikTok. Any such statement/news is false and misleading," government sources said.

The central government in June 2020 banned 59 mostly Chinese mobile applications such as TikTok, UC Browser and WeChat, saying these are 'prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order'.

The decision was made against the backdrop of India's deteriorating border standoff with China. Relations between Beijing and New Delhi had sunk to a low during the 2020 Galwan Valley skirmishes in eastern Ladakh.

"All these apps have been found to have been leaking data. Their malpractices have also been targeted by experts. They have been reported to collect location data, send files to Chinese servers. Furthermore, the beauty apps, beauty plus and selfie camera have also been found to be a risk as they have pornographic content," a government IT ministry official had stated.

TikTok reportedly had nearly 200 million users in India as of January 2020.

Chinese companies had been suspected of building backdoors in their hardware and software, a concern most prominently cited by several countries where officials have been wary of deploying Chinese-made 5G networking equipment.