TikTok is a platform where people used trending songs to create videos. TikTok– a wildly popular social networking platform among youth worldwide, is a Chinese-owned entity. This very fact has created many restrictions for TikTok and ended up losing a considerable share of its users across the globe. Here, you will find the 5 countries that have banned TikTok.
In 2018, TikTok acquired musical.ly, a famous lip-syncing video platform, to get hold of the user base in the US. After the merger, TikTok became the most downloaded app in the US. According to Wikipedia, TikTok was downloaded around 104 million times from the Apple App Store.
With this increased user base, countries began to fear that some confidential user data might get leaked to the Chinese government and they began to impose restrictions on the viral social media platform. Let’s get into the list of 5 countries that have/had banned TikTok.
- India
- United States
- Pakistan
- Indonesia
- Bangladesh
Let’s dive into the list as to why these countries imposed a ban on one of the most downloaded apps of the decade.
In This Article
5 Countries That Have Banned TikTok
The platform is so successful that you only need to make one viral 30-second video and gain thousands and thousands of followers. The genre of the videos can range from dance to comedy to education to downright goofy videos.
1. India
Why India banned TikTok?
First on the list is the country with the most TikTok users, India. The Indian government imposed a temporary ban on Tik Tok on June 29, 2020, in a move to ban 220+ Chinese apps following the border clash between India and China. The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology made the ban permanent in the following months citing national security concerns.
The ban impacted TikTok engagement and business. The platform lost its largest user base and in the aftermath of the ban, users fled to rival platforms like Roposo which saw a tremendous growth of 22 million over the next 48 hours of the ban.
2. United States
Why the US banned TikTok?
The United States comes second in the list of TikTok’s user base after India. The former US President, Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 6, 2020 to restrict TikTok transactions in the US market in the next 45 days. The Trump administration justified the move citing threats to national security.
However, TikTok filed a lawsuit, TikTok v. Trump, against the ban imposed by the Trump administration in September 2020 which resulted in the temporary block of the TikTok ban order. Another lawsuit, Marland v. Trump, was filed in October 2020 by 3 TikTok influencers to stop the restrictions by the Commerce Department, which eventually went in the favor of TikTok.
3. Pakistan
Why Pakistan banned TikTok?
The next country on this list is Pakistan. The ban on the popular social media app was issued on October 9, 2020. The reason behind the ban was the immoral and indecent content uploaded on the social networking platform. Eventually, the order to ban was reversed in the next 10 days on October 19, 2020.
However, in March 2021, a Pakistani court ordered yet another ban on TikTok for the inappropriate content shared on the app. The TikTok representatives are currently in talks with the Pakistani Government officials to tactfully smooth any differences to let Pakistani creators make the content more friendly and to better the relations with the country.
4. Indonesia
Why Indonesia banned TikTok?
Indonesia was one of the first countries to ban the widely used app back in July 2018. The ban came after the Indonesian government accused TikTok of promoting pornographic and inappropriate content that was insulting to the Indonesian culture and religion.
Nonetheless, the Indonesian Government implemented the ban as a temporary one, with the option that it would lift the ban provided Titktok follows through with the compliances to make the interface cleaner. Soon after, TikTok made efforts to censor the violating content in the Indonesian region and the ban was ultimately lifted after 8 days.
5. Bangladesh
Why Bangladesh banned TikTok?
One more country that banned TikTok is Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government blocked internet access to the TikTok application in November 2018. Though TikTok didn’t have any direct connection to the ban, the government of Bangladesh clarified that the ban was implemented due to the rising pornography and gambling in the country.
However, in 2020, after many users in the country demanded the upliftment of the ban on TikTok, the Bangladeshi Government drafted the TikTok authorities to remove 10 offensive videos on their platform from the country.
In the aftermath, TikTok obliged positively to the request of the Government and took down the violating videos. The ban was lifted and the Bangladeshi Government issued a statement stating that they don’t wish to ban the app provided both the users and platform follows censorship.
Wrapping Up
Be it a threat to national security or just the improper use of the social networking platform, TikTok has been facing a lot of issues. In addition to the countries mentioned above, TikTok is also under scanner for user data privacy concerns all around the world such as in Australia and European Union. Let us know if you belong to any of these TikTok banned countries in the comment section below.
