India’s TikTok Ban | Know Your Meme

Overview

India’s TikTok Ban refers to India’s cybersecurity concerns over the Chinese-owned app TikTok during heightened border clashes between the two countries leading to the removal of 59 Chinese apps in late June 2020. The ban caused Redditors to post memes congratulating India due to the memetic general consensus on the platform Reddit good, TikTok bad.

Background

On June 29th, 2020, Asian News Internation posted to their Twitter account that “Government of India bans 59 mobile apps. Tik Tok, UC Browser and other Chinese apps included in the list” and added the list which received over 18,400 likes and 8,400 retweets in a day. According to The New York Times, “Analysts say up to a third of TikTok’s global users are based in India.”


ANI @ANI List of 59 apps banned by Government of India "which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order". Appendix 1. TikTok 31. Mi Video Call –- Xiaomi 2. Shareit 32. WeSync 33. ES File Explorer 34. Viva Video – QU Video Inc 3. Kwai 4. UC Browser 5. Baidu map 6. Shein 7. Clash of Kings 8. DU battery saver 9. Helo 35. Meitu 36. Vigo Video 37. New Video Status 10. Likee 11. YouCam makeup 12. Mi Community 13. CM Browers 38. DU Recorder 39. Vault- Hide 40. Cache Cleaner DU App studio 41. DU Cleaner 42. DU Browser 43. Hago Play With New Friends 44. Cam Scanner 14. Virus Cleaner 15. APUS Browser 45. Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile 16. ROMWE 17. Club Factory 18. Newsdog 19. Beutry Plus 20. WeChat 46. Wonder Camera 47. Photo Wonder 48. QQ Player 49. We Meet 50. Sweet Selfie 51. Baidu Translate 52. Vmate 53. QQ International 54. QQ Security Center 55. QQ Launcher 21. UC News 22. QQ Mail 23. Weibo 24. Xender 25. QQ Music 26. QQ Newsfeed 56. U Video 27. Bigo Live 28. SelfieCity 57. V fly Status Video 58. Mobile Legends 59. DU Privacy 29. Mail Master 30. Parallel Space 11:14 AM - Jun 29, 2020 - Twitter Web App INV Text Font

Developments

On June 29th, 2020, Redditor mattp_97 posted a Revenge of the Sith meme referring to the ban and the TikTok vs. YouTube Rating Drop to r/dankmemes (shown below, left). The post received over 65,700 points (94% upvoted) in a day. That same day, Redditor GetPeerPressured posted another meme in reaction to the news to r/memes and garnered over 50 points (88% upvoted) in a day (shown below, right).


India: *lowers tiktok's rating to 1.9* Google: *removes the low ratings* India: *bans tiktok* mattp_97 REVENGE OF THE SITH Text Font Line Meanwhile in India: What are you in for? I have the tiktok app Cartoon

On June 29th, TikTok India announced on Twitter that they will be meeting with concerned government officials to reply and prove they have adhered to proper privacy requirements (shown below). The tweet accumulated over 22,900 likes and 7,000 retweets in a few hours.


TikTok India @TikTok_IN An Update The Government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including TikTok and we are in the of complying with it. We have been invited to meet process with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications. TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has 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. TikTok has democratized the internet by making it available in 14 Indian languages, with hundreds of millions of users, artists, story-tellers, educators and performers depending on it for their livelihood, many of whom are first time internet users. - Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok, India d TikTok 11:50 PM - Jun 29, 2020 - Twitter for Android Text Font Document

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External References

Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/indias-tiktok-ban