TikTok denies sharing user data with China
NEW DELHI: TikTok on Tuesday denied sharing users’ data with the Chinese government, after India banned the wildly popular app as ties with Beijing deteriorate sharply following a deadly border clash.
Blaming each other for the brutal hand-to-hand battle on June 15 as talks make little headway, the Asian giants have been bolstering their border forces as anti-China sentiment grows in India.
As India reportedly considered hiking tariffs and with some Chinese imports held up at ports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Monday banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat and Weibo.
The ministry of information technology said the apps “are engaged in activities... prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order.”
The move mirrored growing unease about Chinese tech firms in other countries, in particular regarding telecom giant Huawei.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, allows users to upload and share short videos and is spectacularly popular in India — its 120 million users have made it the app’s top international marketN
On Tuesday, the head of TikTok India issued a statement saying the firm has “not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government.”
“Further if we are requested to in the future we would not do so,”
Nikhil Gandhi said, adding that “hundreds of millions of users, artists, story-tellers, educators and performers... [ depend] on it for their livelihood.”
It remains unclear, however, how the bans would work, with Indians who have downloaded TikTok on their phones still able to use the app on Tuesday.
China and India have long had a prickly relationship.
But the border clash was the first deadly violence on their disputed Himalayan border in 45 years, claiming the lives of 20 Indian soldiers. Chinese casualties are unknown.
The Indian deaths triggered outrage on social media with calls to boycott Chinese products. Chinese flags were set on fire and traders destroyed Chinese goods at scattered street protests
Ties were strained last August when New Delhi revoked the semi-autonomous status of Indiancontrolled Kashmir and split off Ladakh — parts of which are claimed by China — into a new administrative territory.
India shares US unease about growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean and New Delhi has bolstered defence cooperation with Washington as well as Australia and Japan.
India has also been irked by China’s backing of arch-rival Pakistan and the construction of an economic corridor going through parts of Kashmir controlled by Islamabad but claimed by India.