While banning the Chinese app, blamed globally for misinformation and political influencing, in 2020 was the right step, India's battle against digital propaganda is ongoing

At the time, India was TikTok’s biggest foreign market outside of China, with 200 million users. (For comparison, the U.S. currently has over 170 million TikTok users.) Following military clashes along the disputed border between India and China,

TikTok faced a similar ban in India nearly five years ago, as it now does in the US. An executive order issued by then-US President Donald Trump also referred to India’s ban in 2020.

TikTok fans in the U.S. are racing to secure alternatives and safeguard their digital empires ahead of a looming shutdown, evoking the chaos of India's 2020 ban that erased the app from the lives of 200 million users overnight.

India’s 2020 crackdown helped give rise to Instagram Reels, which has largely replaced it there. But TikTok has proved more resilient elsewhere.

America's TikTok ban came five years after India blocked the app, citing security reasons. India had said that TikTok, along with 58 other Chinese apps, posed a threat to sovereignty and security of the country.

As governments work on stricter regulations for social media platforms, the fate of TikTok could depend on its ability to address concerns over user data, content moderation, and transparency.

TikTok’s time in the United States is counting down. But Washington is only the latest government to impose restrictions on the video app.

When India banned TikTok in June 2020, Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube gained big time. Will it be the same with the US suspension?

Members of the City Youth Organization in Hyderabad hold posters in support of India's ban of TikTok in June 2020. Credit - Noah Seelam/AFP—Getty Images When Congress passed a bill in April 2024 ...

President Donald Trump has begun his second administration with a series of controversial moves and decisions.

Bryson DeChambeau is making a bit of history this week, becoming the first reigning U.S. Open champ to play an official event in India and the first reigning major champ of any kind to play there in six decades. It took a lot less time for him to do something spectacular in the Asian country.