TikTok Was Forced To Leave India

TikTok illustration (unsplash)

JAKARTA - ByteDance, the parent company of the TikTok app, is cutting its more than 2,000 employees in India. The move was taken after India permanently blocked TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps

The notification was delivered in an internal memo by the TikTok company, following responses from companies blocked by the Indian government on compliance and privacy issues.

The ban began last year as political tensions between India and China escalated over the disputed border.

"We initially hoped this situation would be in short-period... then we saw it did not happen," ByteDance wrote in a company memo as quoted by Reuters on Thursday, January 28.

"We cannot responsibly keep the full staff number while our application is not operating... we don't know when we will return to India," ByteDance added.

In a statement, ByteDance said it was disappointing that it had not received clear directions on how and when the app could be reactivated. It did not say how many employees would lose their jobs.

Before the blockade, India was one of TikTok's biggest markets, and ByteDance, in 2019, had planned to invest USD 1 billion in India.

During the blockade last year, the Indian government described the app as harming "India's sovereignty and integrity." The move comes following clashes with Chinese troops on the disputed Himalayan border, which killed 20 Indian soldiers.

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- TikTok India (@TikTok_IN) June 30, 2020

In the United States, the Trump administration ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok citing national security concerns and is seeking to impose restrictions that would effectively prohibit its use.

TikTok is also under scrutiny in Australia for any risks it may pose to users, such as potential foreign intrusions and data privacy issues.