Dealmay set India model

NEW DELHI: The deal struck between Oracle and TikTok’s US arm may set the blueprint for how things might proceed in India, though the Indian government has insisted that the developments in the US won’t influence the platform’s future here, experts said.

“Having a licensing deal is the best compromise TikTok could have done,” said Arindrajit Basu, senior policy officer, Center for Internet and Society (CIS). “Given the fact that the geopolitical tension will continue for some time at least, it is infeasible to have an app that is being run by a Chinese firm and is so widely available in India.”

A licensing agreement in India could help TikTok convince the Indian government that the country’s data sovereignty is protected. “Oracle, or whichever the company they partner with, will guarantee that the user data will not go to China. That is one way of protecting India from Chinese surveillance,” Basu said.