TikTok, WeChat and dozens of other Chinese apps have been banned in India: ByteDance calculates losses of $ 500,000 a day

Without the Indian market, the short video platform expects financial losses of around $ 500,000 a day

The consequences of the open political front between China and India in recent months are also reflected in technology. In a new move by the Indian government, they have just banned the use of a total of 59 China-based apps. Among them are especially popular apps like TikTok and WeChat, which lose access to a huge market like India.

In an official statement from the Indian government, they indicate that the applications are “detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India.” In the complete list apart from TikTok or WeChat, there are also other great applications that often have an echo in the West, such as Clash of Kings, Weibo, QQ, or Baidu. We also found in the Mi Community list, the Xiaomi app is left out as the best-selling manufacturer in India.

Tensions between China and India have increased in recent weeks after several incidents on the border between the two countries. This is the first time that a market as large as India (second in the world with 1.3 billion online users) orders a block of so many apps at the same time.

Earlier this month an app started circulating among Indian users. It was ‘Remove China Apps’ and its name made it clear what it was about. The app scanned for Chinese apps on the phone to notify the user if it had any installed. Finally, Google removed it from the Google Play Store.

Half a million dollars in losses a day for TikTok

One of the first apps to suffer these repercussions is TikTok. Sensor Tower revealed in April this year that of the more than two billion downloads of the app worldwide, some 661 million came from India, thus representing 30% of its market. According to ByteDance and Reuters reports, without the Indian market, the short video platform expects financial losses of around $ 500,000 a day. In addition, they express that more than 250 jobs are put at risk.

Be that as it may, it is not the first time that TikTok has been eliminated in India. The app was pulled from Apple and Google stores in April over concerns about pornography on the platform. A week later she returned to the app stores on both platforms.