Besides Tiktok, India has banned 58 other apps with Chinese links. (File)
Beijing:
China’s tech giant Unicorn ByteDance Ltd is predicting a loss of more than $ 6 billion after three of its apps, including the hugely popular video app TikTok, were banned by India this week, according to a media report.
In addition to Tiktok, India has banned 58 other applications with Chinese links, including the popular UC browser, for engaging in activities “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, in defense of the ‘India, State Security and Public Order’. The ban came after the current deadlock along the actual line of control in eastern Ladakh with Chinese troops.
The $ 6 billion figure is likely more than the combined losses for all other Chinese apps banned by India, Caixinglobal.com reported in China, citing sources close to the company’s management.
ByteDance has become one of the last Chinese tech companies to face growing resistance from foreign governments suspicious of perceived ties to the Chinese government and concerns about user data protection, he said.
Describing India’s ban on 59 apps developed in China as unprecedented, the report said it was a huge blow to the global expansion of TikTok, which is touted as the most popular Chinese app in the world. foreign. India is its largest market in terms of users outside of China, where the service is called Douyin.
The banned ByteDance applications were its short video platforms TikTok and Vigo Video, as well as its social networking application Helo. Tencent’s messaging platform, WeChat, and five of its other applications have also been banned. Other large Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc., have also had their products banned.
The 59 apps have now been removed from the Apple Inc and Google LLC app stores for the Indian market.
TikTok was downloaded 611 million times in India in the first quarter of this year, equivalent to 30.3% of its total downloads worldwide in the quarter and nearly double the total number of downloads in India for the entire year. year 2019, according to the report citing another publication, SensorTower. .
The consequences of India’s latest move could be more lasting, analysts told Caixin.
Responding to the Indian government’s decision, TikTok said it would fully comply with the decision. ByteDance employs more than 2,000 full-time local employees in India.
