TikTok can no longer be used in India. TikTok now shows error messages such as "Network error" and "No internet connection" on almost all cellular and broadband networks in India.
As TikTok, which had over 200 million users in India, becomes defunct in India, the immediate theory is that the ISPs are acting on the government's orders. But we are not sure whether it is the ISPs who have blocked app servers or if TikTok has voluntarily disabled its feed and other features in India post government's decision.
On its website and app, TikTok has started showing the message that says
Dear users, we are in the process of complying with the Government of India's directive to block 59 apps. Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users in India remains our utmost priority.
TikTok in the day that it is talking to the government over the moratorium imposed on its use in India. "TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese Government. Further, if we are requested to in the future we would not do so. We place the highest importance on user privacy and integrity," said Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok, India.
For what it is worth, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in India may have started blocking access to TikTok app servers, leaving the popular short-form video making app high and dry. But Indian ISPs are still to corroborate whether they have pulled the plug on internet services for ByteDance's TikTok. Airtel, Reliance Jio, ACT Fibernet, and Hathway are among the major ISPs of India that have seemingly discontinued providing TikTok access to the internet servers a day after ByteDance's hit app was banned alongside 58 other Chinese apps by the government of India.
Several TikTok users took to Twitter to report that they are unable to access TikTok on their networks, including Reliance Jio and Airtel, two of the country's biggest telecom companies. Among these users are those who use internet services from Reliance Jio, Airtel, ACT Fibernet, and Hathway, saying they are no longer able to use TikTok because of the apparent "network issue."
As we said, we are not sure if the telcos have blocked TikTok or if TikTok has blocked its content until its ongoing talks with the Indian government materialise in its favour. We checked TikTok on Airtel and Jio networks and found the app throwing the same error messages.
Queries sent to Airtel, Reliance Jio, and COAI did not elicit any responses at the time of publishing.
After TikTok was banned on Monday evening, Google Play Store and Apple's App Store pulled the app listing within hours of the government's decision. Government has cited reasons centring the cyberspace safety in India, which was surreptitiously being compromised by the 59 apps mentioned in MeitY's press release. The backdrop of the recent tussle is an outcome of the simmering tensions between China and India in Ladakh, which were ignited immediately after Indian soldiers were martyred in a clash between two nations.