Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(Miety) has permanently banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat amongothers.
Earlier these apps were banned in June, 2020 after therelations between India and China hit at an all time low due to the ongoingconflict at the border.
Prior to the ban, the government had sought responsesfrom the companies that are banned regarding their data gathering, mining andsharing practices. According to reports, the government was not satisfied withthe response from these companies and issued them a notice last week.
Meanwhile, PubG had launched its India only version butthe government said it didn't give any such permission of re-launch as per areport published in Gadgets 360.
After the reports about permanent ban on the apps, thePubG game seems to be in a tight spot because ByteDance (the parent company)had hired many people in India and the team was retained after the ban. Butwith the latest development it seems unlikely that the company will furthercontinue its operations in India.
TikTok spokesperson while speaking with Mint said, “Weare evaluating the notice and will respond to it as appropriate. TikTok wasamong the first companies to comply with the government of India directiveissued on June 29, 2020. We continually strive to comply with local laws andregulations and do our best to address any concerns the government may have.Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users remains to be our topmostpriority.”