The move came after India decided to retain its ban on TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps following responses from the companies on issues such as compliance and privacy. The ban dates from last year when political tension between the neighbours rose over their disputed border.

“We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived…we find that has not been the case,” ByteDance wrote in the memo to staff in India, seen by Reuters. “We simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while our apps remain un-operational…we don’t know when we will make a comeback in India.”

In a statement, Tiktok said it was disappointing that despite its efforts it had not received a clear direction on how and when its apps could be re-instated. “It is deeply regretful that after supporting our 2,000-plus employees in India for more than half a year, we have no choice but to scale back the size of our workforce,” it said, but gave no further specifics.

At the time of last year’s ban, the Indian government described the apps as “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India”. The move followed a skirmish with Chinese troops at a disputed Himalayan border site that killed 20 Indian troops.

TikTok had committed to spending $1 billion in the region. Before the ban, it had become one of the fastest-growing social media apps in India, once its largest market in terms of users.

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Amid tensions in the Indo-China border, the Central government has banned 118 Chinese apps including the most popular smartphone game PUBG. The decision to ban these smartphone apps has been taken by Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology. According to Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology, these apps are “engaged in activities prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

A statement issued by the Ministry revealed that they have received several complaints from various sources regarding the operation of these smartphone applications. The Ministry also alleged that these apps are apparently misusing the data of the users, and are taking all these information to servers outside India.

“This move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace. The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” the statement said.

The decision to ban PUBG is expected to receive negative responses from the youth in the country, as there are millions of young people in the nation who spend hours playing this shooting game. However, several psychology experts have previously warned that games like PUBG will increase violent traits among its users.

It was around a few months back that the Indian government banned the much popular short video app, TikTok. The decision literally shocked TikTok lovers, and they urged the government to lift the ban, as it has nothing to do with data loss or national security. However, the government did not lift the ban, and within a couple of months, they have banned another popular Chinese app used by millions.

In the meantime, Donald Trump administration is also planning to ban TikTok in the United States, citing data loss concerns.

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India bans 59 Chinese mobile apps including TikTok and Shareit

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