Why India should keep out TikTok in the age of information warfare

India should not allow TikTok to operate in the country.

Xender, Shareit and Shein were among the 59 apps that were banned overnight by the Indian government following border tensions and Galwan clashes in June 2020. Following the easing of India-China tensions, some of these apps have been making a comeback in India. The latest to make a comeback is Shein, a fast-fashion e-commerce platform that has relaunched in India in partnership with the Reliance group. The re-entry of Chinese apps has raised the prospects for arguably the most popular Chinese app globally — ByteDance’s TikTok, a short-video social media platform.

I argue that notwithstanding the easing of India-China ties, India should not allow TikTok to operate in the country even if the company follows the Shein template. This is because of cognitive autonomy concerns stemming from the core strength of ByteDance’s business success — TikTok’s algorithm.

Anatomy of the ban

Following weeks of tensions at the India-China Line of Actual Control, clashes broke out between Indian and Chinese troops on 15 June 2020. ‘The clash, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed, was the worst clash in 45 years on the India-China LAC. About two weeks after the clash, the Indian government announced its decision to ban 59 Chinese apps. The Ministry of Information Technology banned these apps under the section 69A of the Information Technology Act of 2000 claiming the apps to be ‘prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.’ Some of the apps banned were barely known, while a few were popular on app stores. The latter included Shareit, UC Browser, Shein, Xender and Cam Scanner. But what made headlines in India and globally was the ban on TikTok.

ByteDance’s TikTok had amassed a whopping 200 million users in India — the company's largest market outside China. Overnight, all these accounts and all the content posted therein froze, and continues to remain that way till date.

The re-entry template

Hand in hand with a gradual easing of India-China tensions after years of stand-off at the border, certain Chinese apps started making a quiet comeback on app stores in India. According to reports published by India Today and the Indian Express in February 2025, apps such as Xender and Shareit have returned to app stores with minor modifications in names or ownership structure.

Another popular app that has returned to India is Shein. The government informed the Lok Sabha in December 2024 that Shein had entered into a partnership with Reliance Retail Ventures Limited to launch the retail app in India with a host of data safeguards. Earlier this year, SHEIN India Fast Fashion became available for download in both Android and Apple app stores. According to a report in TechCrunch, ‘Shein will operate purely as a technology partner, with Reliance maintaining full ownership of the platform through its subsidiary. The arrangement requires all customer data to be stored in India, with Shein having no access rights.’

TikTok as a threat to cognitive autonomy

The same reports that cover the comeback of Chinese apps also ask and wonder whether TikTok would make a re-entry too. TikTok, according to a 2022 Economic Times report, even explored entering into India in a partnership with India’s Hiranandani Group. While the status of this potential partnership remains currently unknown, Shein’s partnership with Reliance might boost ByteDance’s prospects of potentially re-launching in India. But even if TikTok does find an Indian partner, I argue that it should not be allowed to enter India.

The Shein template would not work in the case of TikTok. Both are different types of apps altogether: the earlier is a fast-fashion e-commerce platform, while the latter is a social media platform. According to the Shein template, the technology would remain with Shein’s parent company. While this can still work for an e-commerce platform, for TikTok this would not. This is because it is in the TikTok's algorithm that cognitive autonomy concern stems from. While data privacy and sovereignty as well as cybersecurity are often emphasized in popular writings, cognitive autonomy of Indian citizens is important too, especially in the age of information warfare. The TikTok algorithm can be potentially used to amplify or de-amplify content to suit ByteDance's (and thereby Chinese Communist Party's) objectives. To make matters worse, the effects of influence operations mounted through algorithmic bias may be ‘unseen yet pervasive’ and ‘more likely to have a deeper impact (both cognitively at individual level, and collectively at societal level)’.

Therefore, even if following the Shein template TikTok was to find an Indian partner and submit to extensive cybersecurity and data privacy audits, it would not solve the algorithm issue. ByteDance has been reluctant to give away TikTok's algorithm in the US and it is unlikely that they will give it up in India. This is because it is in the powerful TikTok algorithm where the company’s distinguishing feature lies. Without the algorithm the TikTok app would not be enticing enough from a user point of view. And even in an unlikely scenario ByteDance agreeing to completely part away with TikTok’s India business, including the core technologies and algorithm, the Indian acquirer will face a difficult predicament: would a siphoned-off TikTok India be a marketable entity given that it may lack the network effects of rival platforms that are global in nature?