City
Epaper

India tops requests on TikTok, China not on list

By IANS | Updated: January 3, 2020 10:30 IST

India sent a total of 118 requests to the Chinese short-video making platform TikTok in the in the first half of 2019 (January 1-June 30, 2019) to take certain actions against those accounts.

Open in App

The strange part is that there was not a single request from China, TikTok's home country where the app functions as a different name Douyin, which has stricter control.

While there were 107 legal requests, the Indian government asked information for 11 accounts, requesting to take down content deemed to be in violation of local laws, or to provide information related to accounts under certain defined circumstances, TikTok said in its first transparency report, mimicking US tech companies who have the practice of revealing such information.

For 107 legal requests from India, TikTok which has nearly 200 million users in the country acted in 47 per cent cases while for the government requests, it removed eight accounts.

The US was second with 79 requests related to 255 accounts, and received information on 86 per cent of its requests. Third was Japan with 35 requests linked to 39 accounts.

TikTok has seen nearly 1.5 billion downloads globally and the US market with 37.6 million downloads is at the third sport, after India and China.

"In balancing our responsibilities to law enforcement with our respect for the privacy of our users, we respond only to legally valid requests and only with the requisite amount of information needed," said Eric Ebenstein, TikTok's public policy chief.

The transparency report follows the US Army and Navy banning the app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.

ByteDance has reportedly been under scrutiny from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) after lawmakers demanded an investigation to see whether the Chinese government can collect users' data or control the content that is shared.

TikTok became the first Chinese-owned app to reach first place in the US Apple App Store last November.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: usindiachinaDouyin
Open in App

Related Stories

MumbaiMumbai: Bomb Threat Call to US Consulate Traced to Mentally Unstable Youth Upset Over Visa Rejection

NationalCOVID-19 Update: Mumbai Cases Drop Sharply; India’s Active Tally Drops By 428

CricketIndia vs India A Intra-Squad LIVE Streaming: When and Where To Watch Intra-Squad Match on TV and Online?

Navi MumbaiNavi Mumbai News: Border Crackdown Forces Indian Woman to Part With Children and Husband Amid Citizenship Chaos

NationalAir India Plane Crash in Gujarat: Could This Be One of India’s Deadliest Air Disasters? Here Are Top 5 Worst Aviation Tragedies

टेकमेनिया Realted Stories

TechnologyIndia now has 40 crude oil suppliers, domestic output also rising: Hardeep Puri

TechnologySouth Korea's living costs significantly above OECD average

TechnologySupplementary budget expected to have limited impact on inflation: BOK chief

TechnologyMobiKwik's share price dips over 9 pc, slips below IPO price

TechnologyFrom robust manufacturing to FDI inflows, India rising on world stage: Piyush Goyal