ByteDance’s short-video app TikTok will pull out of Hong Kong within a few days, after several tech companies such as Google and Facebook have suspended processing government requests for user data from the region.
ByteDance’s decision comes as Hong Kong adopts a new national security law that grants expanded powers to the mainland Chinese government. According to industry observers, the recent law would let mainland China request for user data from global companies with operations in the special administrative region.
“In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong,” a spokesperson told Reuters.
Photo credit: Alexey Malkin/123RF
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Hong Kong is a small and loss-making market for TikTok, which serves about 150,000 users in the city. Globally, the app has amassed a total of 2 billion downloads as of April this year.
ByteDance had said before that TikTok, now led by Disney’s former head of streaming Kevin Mayer, never shares data with the Chinese government.
TikTok is also one of the 59 apps that have been banned in India recently. According to the local government, the apps have been “stealing and then surreptitiously transmitting” data to locations outside of the country. ByteDance is expecting to see US$6 billion in losses as a result of the ban, according to reports.
The US is also looking to block the app in the country amid concerns that TikTok can be used by China to spread propaganda and as a surveillance tool.
In its defense, TikTok reiterated that it doesn’t store user data in China and that it rejects any requests made by the Chinese government to censor content or to access TikTok’s user data.
The app is also designed so it won’t be accessible by mainland China, where ByteDance operates Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. A spokesperson for ByteDance told Reuters that although there are no plans to formally bring Douyin to Hong Kong for now, it already has a sizeable audience in the region.
Editing by Charmaine de Lazo
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