India made a bold statement this week after banning over 55 Chinese apps including the famous and well-received TikTok, a social media platform that lets users share short video clips with others around the world. It called the apps, and the Chinese government. a “threat to sovereignty and integrity.”
According to one estimate, TikTok had been installed over 610 million times in India – compared to just 165 million times in the US. A very well funded promotional campaign ran in India to promote the app, and now? It’s gone, at least for now.
This move comes after China and India clashed over borders two weeks ago in the Himalayas which left 20 Indian soldiers dead – but this was a move a long time coming. As China closed it’s own digital borders to giants like Google and Facebook, it’s more of a surprise that this hasn’t come sooner.
Other major Chinese apps to get the boot from India? UC Broswer and WeChat, run by the Chinese media giant TenCent.
