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TikTok is facing a ban in the United States after a federal law forced its parent Chinese company ByteDance to sell its operations to an American firm or shut shop there by Sunday (January 19).
The fate of the popular short video app will be determined by the US Supreme Court, which will likely rule on that law’s constitutional validity on Friday. For many of the 170 million Americans on the app, TikTok has become a means of quickly achieving popularity and securing a livelihood. Thousands of users have expressed disappointment with the impending ban.
Though many governments globally have criticised the app over multiple issues – from privacy concerns to China’s influence – India was among the first to ban it, in 2020.
India’s TikTok ban came as its bilateral ties with China reached a low in 2020. On June 15 of that year, Indian and Chinese troops clashed in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, leading to the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers. The conflict along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was the deadliest in 45 years and resulted in a military standoff.
Two weeks after the clash, India banned 59 apps of Chinese origins — including TikTok. Announcing the ban on June 29, the Ministry of Information and Technology said it had received reports of “misuse” of some mobile apps. This included “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India”.
The Ministry added that this “ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.” The apps were banned under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which allows the Government to block “public access of any information through any computer resource” if it is necessary to do so “in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State…”
TikTok and other banned apps were consequently removed from app stores like Google Play. Telecom providers too blocked access to the app.
In response, TikTok India’s head at the time said in a statement that the app “continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese Government.”
Over the years, several countries have limited access to TikTok, citing cybersecurity threats. Notably, the Chinese government has a “golden share” in ByteDance, giving it veto powers in the company.
In August 2020, then-US President Donald Trump attempted to restrict US citizens’ transactions with properties under ByteDance. The executive order mentioned India’s TikTok ban and its concerns over data-sharing, stating, “The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security.”
However, the order ran into legal troubles and was dropped in 2021 by the Joe Biden administration. But in March 2023, the Biden administration asked government agencies to delete the app from federal devices. The United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union also imposed similar instructions regarding government-related devices.
In 2024, the US Senate moved to permanently ban the app, forcing ByteDance to divest from TikTok. Such a sale hasn’t materialised so far. Trump, having changed his stance since 2020, has vowed to “save” the app. The President-elect recently said he has a “warm spot” for TikTok.
This has been linked to his presence on the app giving him access to certain key demographics. However, with the Supreme Court most likely to uphold the ban, any executive order by Trump – who comes to power a day after the January 19 deadline – may find itself in a legal grey area.
Before the 2020 ban, TikTok had amassed around 200 million users in India, then its biggest market after China. As it gained popularity in tier-1 and tier-2 cities, so did their influencers. Recognising an opportunity to connect with a wider, diverse customer base, brands also began pouring money into influencer marketing.
The ban meant these influencers had to find alternative platforms. Indian players such as Moj, Chingari, Josh, and MX Taka Tak emerged onto the scene after the demise of TikTok. Since then, Moj, owned by ShareChat, and MX Taka Tak of the Times Internet Group have announced a merger.
A November 2024 report by Redseer Strategy Consultants states that the 2020 ban “created a significant void in the SFV (short format video) space that was swiftly filled by homegrown platforms.” “Indian SFV userbase surpassed TikTok’s user base within three months by capitalizing on the TikTok ban,” the report said. As of March 2024, there was a three-fold rise in users of these apps (not including Instagram, Facebook and YouTube) from July 2020.
The Indian apps, of course, face heavy competition from global giants like Instagram (Reels), Facebook (Watch) and YouTube (Shorts) that themselves emerged to counter TikTok. In India, a major chunk (60 per cent) of users from Metro and Tier-1 cities preferred global SFV apps in 2024.
Tier-2 cities, however, dominated the use of Indian SFV apps. Around 55-45 per cent of Indian app users were from Tier-2 cities. The report also noted an increase in Metro and Tier-1 users for Indian apps between 2023 and 2024.
Similarly in the US, TikTok creators have begun directing users to their Instagram handles. There’s a growing popularity for alternatives such as Lemon8, a social media app also owned by ByteDance, which makes its future uncertain. Americans have also been flocking to another Chinese app, Xiaohongshu (or Red Note in English), as a symbolic protest against the TikTok ban.
