INDIA BANS TIKTOK AND TENCENT’S QQ MUSIC, ALONGSIDE 57 OTHER CHINESE-OWNED MOBILE APPS
India’s government has blocked Bytedance’s TikTok and Tencent Music Entertainment’s QQ Music from devices in the country, as it officially bans 59 Chinese-owned mobile apps. Other apps now banned in India, per a government announcement today (June 29) include Baidu’s Baidu Map and Alibaba’s UC Browser, in addition to social video app Kwai and filesharing app ShareIt. India’s Ministry of Information Technology claims that the blocked apps are “prejudicial to [the] sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”. Relations between India and China worsened earlier this month, after 20 Indian soldiers were killed on the disputed Himalayan border with China. The Indian army claimed that these deaths were the result of a “violent face-off” with Chinese soldiers. In April, data monitor SensorTower reported that TikTok had surpassed 2 billion downloads worldwide. Its data suggested that India had been the biggest driver of this growth, with 6...