Hyderabad: The famous video-sharing app, TikTok has disappeared from Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store following the Indian government’s decision on Monday to ban 59 Chinese apps.
TikTok and Helo, both owned by Chinese content giant ByteDance, were removed from both Google PlayStore and Apple App Store on Tuesday. Just a day before, the Union Government issued a note listing out 59 apps including Tiktok and Helo that were banned for use in India citing data security. However, the other 57 apps could be downloaded easily from either Play Store or their respective websites.
There was no official communication from Google or Apple on the removal from their respective stores. However, the users who have the TikTok or Helo app on their mobile phone can still use them.
TikTok had nearly 119 million active users in India and was among the top 10 apps on Google Playstore and Apple App Store.
Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok India, said in a statement that the company was in process of complying with the government order. “We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications,” he said.
Gandhi further said, “TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information of our users 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.”
“The Government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of59 apps, including TikTok, 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,” Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok, India said. TikTok added that it continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under the Indian law and has not shared any information of its users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government.
According to government sources, the decision is from “immediate effect” and has been conveyed to Google Play Store, Apple Play Store, and Amazon Play store.
While Helo; a vernacular social networking platform, which has millions of users in India also is in the process of complying with the government order.
However, other banned apps like Alibaba Group’s UC Browser and UC News, Xiaomi’s Mi community, Tencent-owned WeChat, e-commerce platform Club Factory, and document scanning app CamScanner were still available on the platforms for download. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a list of 59 Chinese Apps that are now banned in the country.
“There is credible information that these apps are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of the state and public order,” read a MeitY statement.