Tag: tiktok

Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, told employees of the Chinese technology giant in a memo that he will step down as a chief executive and be succeeded by human resource chief Liang Rubo, the company disclosed today(20th May 2021). The move, first reported by Reuters, represents the biggest corporate shake-up at ByteDance since its launch in 2012. The company grew to become a dominant social media force in China and turned TikTok, a short-video app popular with teenagers, into a global sensation. Zhang will move to a "key strategy" position at the end of this year, ByteDance said in a statement.

Bytedance, the owner of Tiktok and Helo apps, has announced the closure of its India business following continued restrictions on its services in the country. TikTok's global interim head Vanessa Pappas and vice president for global business solutions Blake Chandlee in a joint email to employees have communicated the decision of the company that it is reducing team size and the decision will impact all employees in India. The executives expressed uncertainty about the company's comeback to India but expressed hope to do so in times to come. "We look forward to receiving the opportunity to relaunch TikTok and support the hundreds of millions of users, artists, storytellers, educators, and performers in India," the spokesperson said.

Microsoft may strike a deal to buy all of TikTok’s global business, including the viral video app’s operations in India and Europe. The value of Tik-Tok’s India business may be as much as $10 billion. On Sunday (2nd August 2020) Microsoft had said that it was in negotiations with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok and the world’s largest startup, to explore a purchase of the TikTok service in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Since then, Microsoft has also pursued a plan that will include all countries where TikTok operates.It does not operate in China, and such a deal would not extend to its China-facing sister app Douyin. Read more

India has banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including the popular SHAREit, TikTok, UC Browser, and SHEIN, citing them to be a security threat. The government invoked its powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act and relevant provisions under IT Rules 2009 to block these apps, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on Monday. The move comes in the backdrop of stand-off along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh with Chinese troops. The ministry said it had received complaints about the misuse of some mobile apps available on the Android and iOS platforms “for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data” in an unauthorized manner to servers located outside India. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and the Home Ministry, who had had earlier sent an exhaustive recommendation on the apps to be blocked, were consulted on this issue, the Ministry statement said. Read more