Change in TikTok's ownership may not be enough to lift ban in India

New Delhi: A change in TikTok’s ownership may not be enough to persuade the Indian government to lift the ban on the app, senior government officials told ET.“The problem with the app was not only the ownership but the fact that the app was reflecting selective views, snooping on Indian citizens and significantly controlling the information viewed by Indians in a way that was leading to mind control,” said one of them. “Did you ever see clips on the Hong Kong protests or on the Dalai Lama and Tibetans in exile? So, you could see how it was trying to feed selective information.”TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, was one of 59 Chinese apps banned by the government because of national security issues, following border hostilities in June. A Microsoft-Walmart combine is among contenders seeking to acquire TikTok.‘Haven’t Heard from any Co on Deal’Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said ByteDance would have to sell TikTok or stop its operations in the country. ET reported recently that Reliance Industries was engaged in an early stage exercise to evaluate the possibility of acquiring TikTok’s India operations.77815182The official cited above said the app was being used as a weapon of state policy. ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming told employees Thursday that the company was moving quickly to resolve issues both in the US and in India. This came as he sought to calm turmoil within the world’s most valuable startup following the resignation of chief executive officer Kevin Mayer.“We haven’t heard from any of the companies in question on this issue,” said the official cited above, when asked if any of the prospective bidders had held discussions with the government on the app’s operations in India.On Thursday, Walmart announced it was joining Microsoft in a bid for TikTok’s US assets. Apart from Microsoft, those in the fray for TikTok’s operations in the US and the Australia and New Zealand markets include Oracle, backed by General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital.However, the Chinese company has not provided clarifications on any negotiations regarding its Indian operations. TikTok had clocked a user base of 200 million until India blocked it. The Indian government said it had blocked the Chinese apps to counter the threat posed by them to the country’s “sovereignty and security.”The government had said the applications were engaged in activities “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.” The bans were imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009. The government had also cited complaints about data on Indian users being transferred abroad without authorisation.

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