Tiktok refutes any sharing of information with China. The platform, at the top of the list of 59 Chinese applications blocked since Monday by New Delhi, assures in a press release published Tuesday June 30 "not to have shared any information" on its Indian users with foreign governments.

The Indian branch of the company, owned by the Chinese group ByteDance, also claims "to respect the security and privacy of data under Indian law".

The Indian government ordered their blockage to "ensure the security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace". Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government decision comes two weeks after an extremely deadly clash between the Indian and Chinese armies over a border dispute in the Himalayas, which sparked calls to boycott Chinese products in the Asian giant from South.

Chinese fever in India

The shock left 20 dead on the Indian side, and an unknown number of victims in the Chinese ranks. The deaths of Indian soldiers sparked outrage in India and sparked an anti-Chinese fever, which put pressure on the Hindu nationalist government.

A large group of hotels in New Delhi has announced its refusal to welcome Chinese customers. The Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi, market leader in India, where it also has factories, must hide its signs and logos behind large banners proclaiming "Made in India".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to address the nation Tuesday at 4 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. GMT) but it is unclear whether he will address the issue of Indo-Chinese tensions. The intervention of the head of government could relate to the epidemic of coronavirus, which is still raging in India and is spreading rapidly. The country counts to date 16 893 deaths for 566 840 declared cases, figures in rapid progression.

Tiktok, extremely popular in India

This ban is a major setback for TikTok, extremely popular with young Indians, who will suddenly lose a large part of its global users.

The application allows you to publish videos of a few tens of seconds where users film themselves performing sketches, singing in playback or dancing to music.

"TikTok has democratized the internet by being accessible in 14 Indian languages, with hundreds of millions of users, artists, storytellers, educators and performers depending on it for a living, many of them them being first-time internet users ", regretted the application in its press release.

AFP journalists in India were still able to access the application on Tuesday morning. TikTok indicated "being in the process of complying with" the blocking order. This blocking of Chinese applications, which also concerns WeChat, Weibo and the game Clash of Kings, is part of a context of sharp tensions between New Delhi and Beijing.

With AFP

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