'TikTok' to shut down India business

New Delhi, January 27: In a major development, Chinese internet giant ByteDance which owns Tiktok and Helo apps has finally announced its shutdown in India business. The decision has come after the government sent notices to Chinese apps, including Tiktok, stating that the order to block them will be continued.

 

Following this, TikTok's global interim head Vanessa Pappas and vice president for global business solutions Blake Chandlee in a joint email to employees have communicated the decision of the company that it is reducing team size and the decision will impact all employees in India.

 

The executives expressed uncertainty about the company's comeback to India but expressed hope to do so in times to come. "While we don't know when we will make a comeback in India, we are confident in our resilience, and desire to do so in times to come," the email said.

 

In the mail, they further added, "We've cut expenses, while still paying benefits. However, we simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while our apps remain un-operational. We are fully aware of the impact that this decision has on all of our employees in India, and we empathize with our team," the e-mail said.

 

"We have done our best since then to address their (Indian government's) concerns. We regret that this was the result of a lack of clear direction from the government of India on how and when our apps could be reinstated. Despite our efforts to communicate with them, especially since it impacts the careers and livelihoods of so many Indians, today we are forced to reduce the size of our team," the email said." the email said.

 

The executives said that they will share severance and benefits details. "We look forward to receiving the opportunity to relaunch TikTok and support the hundreds of millions of users, artists, storytellers, educators, and performers in India," the spokesperson said.

 

The Ministry of Information Technology had blocked the apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act after learning that the apps are engaged in activities that are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state, and public order.