Like Microsoft takes on TikTok US, Reliance could buy TikTok India

Chinese giant ByteDance is engaging in early discussions with Reliance Industries Limited. It wants the latter to back TikTok’s business in India. This move will potentially save the popular video app’s fate in its biggest market by users. It might have drawn inspiration from the Microsoft-TikTok Deal where Trump ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok US before September 15 or face a ban.

Over the course, TikTok has managed to get the reputation of a notorious app that sells user data. Thus, due to the border tensions between India and China, India banned the Chinese app. The government of India banned TikTok alongside 58 other Chinese apps a few months ago. Since then TikTok is unavailable in the country. The app has been removed from both Google Play store as well as the App Store. For now, the company has said that it is working with the Indian government and will resolve all issues and be back soon.

Following the ban, Donald Trump asked American companies to talk to buy TikTok US and four other countries citing the security reasons.

The 50 Billion Dollar Deal inspired TikTok to call Reliance?

Like Microsoft is to America, Reliance is one of the biggest Indian-Tech company. Any deal with Reliance-- owned by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man and who is an ally of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi --could help ByteDance allay concerns of the Indian government. According to a TechCrunch report, Reliance and ByteDance began conversations about the deal late last month. They are yet to reach the deal details.

Recently, a WSJ report stated the app linked new installs of its app to the device’s unchangeable MAC address for 15 months. In short, this circumvents Google’s policy to allow users to reset IDs used for ad tracking. Worse for TikTok, its data was wrapped in an unusual layer of encryption. Bytedance stated that it stopped this practice in November—before its current security crisis in the U.S. escalated. This was way before the talk of bans and sales. But that won’t be enough to stop this in becoming a hammer blow for the platform and its Chinese parent.

Although Reliance is unlikely to invest in an app that steals such data. But surely the app's fate in India is inspired by the Microsoft-TikTok Deal.