Chinese TikTok banned
India banned 59 apps from China including the very popular short-video program TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd, citing threats to its sovereignty, security and public order, as relations between the two nations worsened. Among the blocked apps are those of Chinese technology giants including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s UC Web, and internet search firm Baidu Inc’s Baidu Map and Baidu Translate. The move comes days after escalating border tensions with China in the Himalayas left 20 Indian soldiers dead. The unauthorised transmission and storage of Indian users’ data in overseas servers and ‘‘its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India,’’ is a matter of deep and immediate concern requiring the emergency measures, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said.