TikTok says it's stopping its operations in Hong-Kong, after India bans China-based app

In a major development on Tuesday, TikTok has suspended its operations in Hong Kong, as per reports by an international news agency. This comes even as TikTok's parent ByteDance may be set to incur losses as huge as $6 billion after India banned Chinese applications amid the border dispute. China has recently passed the Hong Kong National security law that undermines the 'one nation, two systems' doctrine, thereby gazumping Hong Kong's autonomy. Thus, the move by TikTok also comes against the backdrop of what critics have termed as China's attempt to curtail protest and freedom of speech under the garb of 'bringing back stability' in Hong Kong with the draconian security law. 

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As per reports, TikTok had earlier said that it would not comply with any requests made by the Chinese government to censor content. As the national security bill attempts to impose Chinese censorship laws in Hong Kong, TikTok might have to comply with it and private user information could be sent to mainland China. Even as there is no direct ban on apps like Facebook, Twitter in China, companies have pulled out due to China's censorship laws and its terms and conditions that hamper user's privacy. Notably, TikTok owned by ByteDance is still operational in the country and is known as called Douyin. Therefore, the move by TikTok becomes significant even as it will result in a loss of approximately 150,000 users. 

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India bans TikTok

In a surprise move last week, the Home Ministry banned 59 Chinese Apps including TikTok. The Centre stated that it has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of these apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers that have locations outside India. 

As India banned the apps including TikTok, Chinese mouthpiece Global Times quoting sources said that the loss to the parent company - Beijing-based ByteDance could be as high as $6 billion. At the time that TikTok was taken down, it had approximately 370 million users on the Play Store, with a large majority of those coming from India. 

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In its statement post its ban, TikTok claimed to have democratised the Indian Internet, by making its app available in 14 Indian languages. "We have been invited to meet concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications. TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government. Further we are requested to in the future we would not do so. We place the highest importance on user privacy and integrity," TikTok said in its statement.

Earlier, issuing a statement on apps ban by India, China had said that it violates international trade norms. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that Beijing is strongly concerned, and is verifying the situation. He also added that the Indian government has a responsibility to uphold the legal rights of international investors including Chinese ones. However, the statement reeks of hypocrisy as China is infamous for banning far larger Internet companies from operating on its shores with far less explanation.

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