India bans TikTok permanently

In a sweeping move that may lead to legal challenges and further acrimony between India and China in the digital space, the government has permanently banned 59 Chinese apps. These are believed to include top ones such as ByteDance's TikTok, Baidu, WeChat, Alibaba's UC Browser, shopping app Club Factory, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi), and BIGO Live. Report informs referring to The Times of India.

All the permanently banned apps had already been censured in the Indian internet space as part of the government's unprecedented action against a total of 267 apps (in various batches) since June-end last year.

The government had originally initiated action against the Chinese apps under Section 69A of the IT Act, accusing them of engaging in activities prejudicial to India's sovereignty and integrity, defense of India, the security of a state, and public order.

The permanent ban comes in after officials in the IT Ministry expressed dissatisfaction with the companies' response to various queries raised by the government, including their data collection and data processing methods as well as those around data security and privacy.