It was during the lockdown when TikTok made a huge success in India, and people started exploring their creative side. But everything got a major stoppage when the government banned the Chinese apps in India, including TikTok.
Although people stopped getting access to the short format video app but was discovered recently that the app still has the access to "troves of personal data of Indian citizens" who used the platform extensively. The report further stated that the platform got all the data stored with them before it got uprooted by the Indian government over national security reasons.
ALSO READ: Indeed CEO dumps 2200 employees, and later says that he is “heartbroken”
A report on Forbes has said that the data of Indian users "remain widely accessible to employees at the company and its Beijing-based parent ByteDance". TikTok claims to have around 150 million monthly active users from India when the app was legal.
The news surfaced when a TikTok employee (name not revealed) told the journalist of Forbes: "I don't think Indians are aware of how much of their data is exposed to China right now, even with the ban in place.”
ALSO READ: Nothing Ear 2 Launch in India: Highlights
The report also highlighted that anyone at the company with basic access to its tools can retrieve and analyze the detailed data about the Indian TikTok users who use to use the account, including celebrities, public figures and common people as well.
Although TikTok is not operational in India, it still has ByteDance, it's parent company whose employee base is across the world, and around 1,10,000 employees are working from the US, China and Russia.
Although the news has made a great impact as the Indian origin people are worried about their valuable data, TikTok has yet not agreed to the claims made by Forbes, at the time of writing.
ALSO READ: Nokia 2780 Flip launched at Rs 4,699: Features, availability and more
The company has responded by saying that they "have steadfastly complied, and continue to remain in full compliance, with the government of India order since it was implemented".
The short format video-making app further added: "All user data is subject to our robust internal policy controls surrounding access, retention, and deletion," the company spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Earlier in 2023, TikTok reportedly layoff its around 40 employees from India who were working under the parent company banner. The employee who worked for ByteDance was promised up to nine months of severance pay, and most of the employees will only receive three months, the report stated. The spokesperson of the company said that the decision was made to close the remote sales support hub in India and support global and regional sales teams.
The spokesperson further said: “We have taken the decision to close our India remote sales support hub, which was put in place at the end of 2020 to provide support to our global and regional sales teams. We greatly appreciate these employees and their impact on our company and will ensure they are supported at this difficult time.
ALSO READ: Nokia C21 Plus launched at Rs 10,299: All you need to know
India banned around 300 Chinese apps since the initial ban, which included trending brands like WeChat, UC News, Shareit, Helo, Likee, UC Browser and Bigo Live and more. The move was taken post citing the security concerns in the nation.
In February 2023, the Indian government further banned and blocked around 230 apps, which included 138 betting apps and around 94 loan apps, which already had Chinese links.
