Representational image. | Sajjad Hussain / AFP
With India shutting its door to TikTok, its Chinese owner Bytedance has now found a new Asian home.
The Beijing-headquartered company is downsizing its workforce in India and ramping up recruitment in Singapore, according to analytics company GlobalData. “Bytedance plans to make Singapore its epicentre for the rest of Asia-Pacific in its quest to find a neutral ground amid the ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China in the wake of potential national security risks,” Ajay Thalluri, business fundamentals analyst at GlobalData said.
About 25% of the total job postings by Bytedance since August 2020 are in Singapore, as per GlobalData’s analysis. Some of these roles are in areas such as product and data management, e-commerce, and cloud security.
ByteDance says reducing India workforce in light of app ban
Reuters
NEW DELHI |
Updated on
January 27, 2021
Unsure of making a comeback
China s ByteDance has decided to reduce the size of its India team and is unsure when the company will make a comeback in India, it said in an internal memo to employees on Wednesday.
India has decided to retain its ban on video app TikTok and58 other Chinese apps after reviewing responses from the companies on issues such as compliance and privacy, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The apps were banned amid rising tensions between India and China following a border clash between the two nations last year.
TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps face permanent ban in India: Report
TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps face permanent ban in India: Report
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The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), as per sources, stated that apps including TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps have to face a permanent ban on these apps in India.
The report first came from Mint, citing the source close to the development that said, “The government is not satisfied with the response/explanation given by these companies. Hence, the ban for these 59 apps is permanent now .
To recall, back in June of 2020, MeitY had banned 59 apps, including Bytedance’s TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser and Tencent’s WeChat, citing that they are ‘engaged in activities, which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order’.
TikTok scales down India operations; read full text of mail to staff
It is not clear how many employees have been let go. CNBC-TV18 January 27, 2021 / 12:58 PM IST
ByteDance, the company which owns the app TikTok, said today that it was scaling down its India operations. This follows the Indian government banning many Chinese apps, including TikTok, last year.
“We simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while our apps remain un-operational,” TikTok CEO Vaness Pappas, and the company’s Vice President Blake Chandlee, said in a jointly signed mail to its 2000-odd employees in India.
It is not clear how many employees have been let go.