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The hugely popular Chinese

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app TikTok may be

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forced out of the United States. Wednesday,

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President Joe Biden signed into

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law a conditional ban of

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the video-sharing app. India

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banned TikTok almost four years ago.

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Here is a look at what happened there.

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In June 2020, TikTok users in

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India said goodbye to the

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app operated by

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Chinese internet company ByteDance.

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India banned the popular app

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suddenly following a deadly military

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clash with India along their

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shared border. India

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banned many other Chinese apps at

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the same time. Ties

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between the two Asian countries

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hit a new low. The

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Indian government said it ordered the

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ban for security reasons and

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privacy protection. The

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Indian public mostly supported the

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ban. The

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message from the government was, how can

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we allow Chinese companies to do business

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in India when we're

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in the middle of a

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military standoff, said Nikhil Pawa.

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He is a digital policy

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expert and founder of technology

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news website MediaNama.

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Just months before the ban,

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India restricted investment by Chinese

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companies, Pawa added. Today,

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India has banned over 500

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Chinese apps to date, he

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said. At

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the time, India had about 200 million

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TikTok users, the most

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outside of China. The

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company also employed thousands of

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Indians. TikTok

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users and content creators,

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however, needed a place to

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go. Within

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months, Google created YouTube Shorts

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and Instagram created its Reels

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feature. Both

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were similar to the short-form video

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creation that TikTok is known for.

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Pawa said those companies captured

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most of the market that

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TikTok had vacated. Winnie

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Sangma misses posting videos

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on TikTok and earning

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a bit of money, but

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after the ban he moved to

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Instagram and now has 15,000 followers.

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I have built up followers on

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Instagram too, and I am

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making money from it, but the

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experience isn't like how it used to

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be on TikTok, he said. The

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US measure gives ByteDance, the

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app's parent company, nine

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months to sell it. If

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this does not happen, TikTok will

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be banned. It

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would take at least a year before the

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ban goes into effect. However,

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the measure is expected to

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face legal battles that could

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delay the process. In

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India, the process was quick. TikTok

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and other companies were given

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time to answer questions on

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privacy and security, but

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by January 2021, a permanent ban was

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in place. The

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situation in the US is

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different, said Pawa. In

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India, TikTok decided not to go

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to court, but the US

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is a bigger revenue market for them.

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Pawa added that with American

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free speech protections, it's

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not going to be as easy for the

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US to do this as it

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was for India. As

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Chinese apps spread across the world,

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Pawa said countries should reduce

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their dependence on China. companies.

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He said Chinese apps can

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create a national security risk.

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Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan

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also banned TikTok. Many

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countries in Europe restrict the app

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as well. Chinese

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intelligence law and its

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cybersecurity law can allow

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Chinese apps to work in the interest

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of their own security. That

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creates a situation of distrust

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and it becomes a national security

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risk for others, said

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Pawah. There

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should be different rules for

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democratic countries and for authoritarian

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regimes where companies can

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act as an extension of the

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state, he added. I'm

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Dan Novak.