Reports and speculation regarding the return of TikTok to India have been addressed by the Indian government. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has clarified the government’s stance, stating that the ban on the Chinese short-video platform will not be lifted. Responding to discussions about the possibility of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, making a return to India, Vaishnaw, in an interview with Moneycontrol, confirmed that there have been no official discussions on the matter. The rumors of a comeback were triggered by a brief period of accessibility of the TikTok website on certain Indian networks such as Airtel and Vodafone. This triggered discussions on social media about a possible return of the app. The initial ban on TikTok occurred in June 2020 when the Indian government blocked 59 Chinese apps due to concerns about national security and data privacy. Subsequently, Apple and Google removed the app from their stores, and the ban was made permanent in January 2021. India was home to the largest TikTok user base, with over 200 million users prior to the ban. Before the ban, Chinese investors were significant backers of Indian startups, making substantial investments in various sectors like e-commerce, fintech, and edtech.
