Short-video platform Likee on Thursday said it has temporarily pulled off the app from Google Play and Apple App Stores and has suspended its service in India. Likee, a product of BIGO Technology Pte Ltd, is one of the 59 Chinese apps banned by the Indian government.
"We respect the Indian government's order and have temporarily taken off Likee from Google Play and App Store, and have suspended service in India until there is further clarity provided on this matter," the company said in a statement.
Stressing that it works under Singapore-based BIGO Technology Pte Ltd, Likee said that it held "utmost priority to adherence to all the local laws as well as users' privacy and data security". Released first in 2017, the platform has over 15 million users worldwide.
Bigo Live, another product from the same company, also said that they respect the government's order and have removed the app from both Google and Apple stores.
Meanwhile, another short-video making platform TikTok from China-based ByteDance said they are not pursuing legal action regarding the government's directive as reported in a section of the media.
A TikTok spokesperson said, “There have been statements in the press concerning the possibility that TikTok might pursue legal action regarding the directive by the Government of India. We have no plans to pursue such action.”
“We are committed to working with the government to address its concerns. We comply with the laws and regulations of the Government of India. Ensuring the data sovereignty, security and privacy of our users has always been and will continue to be a top priority for us,” the spokesperson added.
Both TikTok and vernacular social networking platform Helo have said they were in the process of complying with the government order to ban 59 Chinese apps and were not sharing any data of Indian users with the Chinese government. TikTok and Helo, both owned by Chinese content giant ByteDance, disappeared from both Google Play Store and Apple App Store earlier this week.
