TikTok and Helo apps can face ban in India

TikTok, a short video platform and Helo, a social media portal, both can face the risk of ban in India. Government of India asked 24 questions to both platforms owned by Chinese tech major Bytedance, and expect answers by 22nd July 19.

According to sources, at least five states including Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Gujarat are planning to ban the apps as well as Centre Government. The governments of Punjab and Karnataka are likely to follow suit.

Bytedance assures its users that it has right and satisfactory answers for Government. Also, they are working along with government official to resolve any query they may have. The company is working on 24 questions asked by Government and here is the statement from the company…

"We are grateful for the immense support given to us by India's growing digital community. India is one of our strongest markets and we are happy to be part of the mainframe of Digital India in 15 Indian languages. In line with our commitment to India, we are investing $1 billion dollars in India over the next three years, with a strategic focus on developing technology infrastructure, establishing local partnerships and supporting initiatives such as the Skill India Program which we are proud to be assisting with already. Our continued success in India will not be possible without the support of our local community. We take our responsibilities to this community seriously and welcome this opportunity to fully collaborate with the Government to meet and exceed our obligations."

The Central Government asked questions to both companies which are related to the monitoring of contents being uploaded on the platform, removal of objectionable and obscene contents. Also concerns about the underage users of the app, data storage and data protection policies of the app.

It seems ByteDance believes that it is a routine concern of Government officials and the company will be able to provide satisfactory answers. However, both TikTok and Helo, are quite popular apps in India. The government would take an or no ban decision when fully convinced with its policies.