India’s ban on the user generated content (UGC) platform TikTok has resulted in massive losses for its creator Bytedance Technology Co. and has also put hundreds of jobs at risk.
It stated that financial losses of over $500,000 (Rs 34.8 million) per day will be hard to bear for a longer duration, and this could severely impact the job prospects of its employees in the country as well.
The company was quoted saying this in a Reuters piece on Tuesday, as it battles the legislation of the country, which has forced a nationwide ban on the app being downloaded from Android and Apple app stores.
The ban in India was itself an unprecedented move and Bytedance is doing its best to get the platform back online, after facing charges of encouraging pornography.
TikTok has run into controversy in India, with many people using the platform to share content of violent, communal and even sexual nature. Most recently, a teen was shot dead while allegedly filming a video involving a gun.
The case will be further heard by the Madras High Court on 24 April, after the Supreme Court on Monday, 22 April asked it to either find a definitive decision on the platform, or else the blanket ban will be vacated.
TikTok allows its users to create and share videos and is currently adding more than 8 crore users every quarter, and the Reuters report mentions that in India itself the platform has amassed over 300 million users in short space of time, quoting analytics firm Sensor Tower.
In addition to the monetary losses, TikTok’s ban has meant that more than one millions users are not able to join the platform. All this is likely to hit TikTok’s reputation among investors as well as advertisers.
Pulling it down from app stores is also going to hit Google and Apple’s coffers, especially when a single platform can claim to have 300 million users in India, out of the 1 billion it claims to have signed up globally.
Bytedance will be hoping that its latest efforts to make the platform safer will work and on 24 April, the Madras High Court’s judgment is in its favour.
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