India’s unprecedented decision to ban 59 of China’s largest apps is a warning to the country’s tech giants, who for years thrived behind a government-imposed Great Firewall that kept out many of America’s best-known Internet names.
It will be increasingly difficult to separate Chinese tech firms from the CCP and China’s geopolitical ambitions
But India’s policy jeopardises all those successes, and could have wider geopolitical consequences as the US seeks to rally countries to stop using Huawei Technologies for 5G networks.
With China’s tech companies poised to become some of the most dominant in emerging industries like artificial intelligence, India’s actions may spur countries around the world to weigh the extent to which they let China gain user data — and potentially economic leverage in future disputes.
In a statement posted to Twitter, TikTok India head Nikhil Gandhi said the company complies with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any user information with any foreign government, including Beijing.
India’s prohibition could also give American companies a possible edge over Chinese players in a rare global tech market that is both populous and not yet saturated.
