TikTok Website Back In India After Five Years, App Remains Unavailable
TikTok was banned in India in 2020, with the government citing security concerns.
The website of TikTok, the China-based video streaming platform, returned to India after a five years. Several users in India were able to access the website on Friday, but its mobile application remained inaccessible.
Notably, TikTok was banned in India in 2020, with the government citing security concerns. There is no official statement yet on whether the restrictions against the Chinese company has been lifted.
ByteDance, the parent entity of TikTok, was also yet to issue any update regarding its operations in India.
The platform also landed in row in the United States, with former President Joe Biden signing a law last April requiring ByteDance to sell its US TikTok business to address national security concerns, or face a shutdown.
India had banned the app on June 29, 2020, days after the Galwan Valley clash, which saw 20 Indian soldiers lose their lives in the first deadly clashes along the Line of Actual Control in decades.
The uplift on the website's ban in the country comes in the wake of thaw in Indo-Sino ties, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday to discuss the bilateral relations. Wang conveyed a message and an invitation from President Xi Jinping for the upcoming SCO Summit in Tianjin.
India and China on Tuesday unveiled a series of measures for a "stable, cooperative and forward-looking" relationship that included jointly maintaining peace along the frontier, reopening border trade, promoting investment flows, and resuming direct flight connectivity at the earliest.
Chinese envoy Xu Feihong, at an event in New Delhi on Thursday, condemned the tariffs imposed by Washington, including India.
"The United States imposed tariffs of up to 50% on India, and even threatened to impose more. China fully opposes it," he said.
Feihong said China is willing to work with all parties, including India, to hold the SCO summit, featuring friendship, solidarity, and fruitful outcomes. "Together, we can open a new chapter of a dragon-elephant tango," he asserted.
