TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer on Wednesday said that the company is working with various stakeholders to address the concerns raised by the Indian government, and remain committed to support the welfare of TikTok creator community till the interim ban order is in effect.
Mayer, who is also the COO of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, said that their creator managers are actively engaging with top creators to reassure them of their efforts and updates about the path forward.
“Our platform has encountered an unfortunate challenge in India. However, we stay resolved and committed to our mission, and are working with stakeholders to address their concerns,” Mayer said in a message addressed to about 2,000 TikTok employees in India.
“TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and places the highest importance on user privacy and integrity,” he added.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has directed telecom operators and internet service providers to block access to all the 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, banned by the government with immediate effect.
DoT has asked all the service players to comply with the order and submit compliance reports.
Mayer said that since 2018, the company has worked hard to ensure that over 200 million users in India are able to express their joy and creativity, celebrate self-expression, and share experiences with a growing global community.
“TikTok has enabled hundreds of millions of users to enjoy the creative works of artists, storytellers, educators and performers from across the country who have forged new avenues of livelihood improvement,” he stressed.
The Government on Monday had banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, Shareit, UC Browser and Xiaomi’s Mi Community over national security concerns in a diplomatic reaction to the Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh on June 15 in which 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives.
Upon receiving of recent credible inputs that such Apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet-enabled devices, a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology statement read.
The Government also asserted that this move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users.
Following this, Chinese short-video making app TikTok and vernacular social networking platform Helo, which have millions of users in India, on Tuesday said they are in the process of complying with the government order to ban 59 Chinese apps and are not sharing any data of Indian users with the Chinese government.
“The government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including TikTok and we are in the process of complying with it,” Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok India, said in a statement.
ByteDance-owned TikTok said that it places the highest importance on user privacy and integrity.
“TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese Government,” Gandhi explained.