TikTok Parent Company Bytedance Looks To Re-Enter India Via Partnerships, Tipped To Be Called 'TikTock"

ByteDance, the parent company of the short video app TikTok, is in talks with Hiranandani Group, which runs the data centres company Yotta Infrastructure Solution to re-enter the Indian market.

The short video sharing application was amongst the 58 Chinese applications banned by the Indian government, in June 2020, over concerns on access to Indian user data being provided to the Chinese government.

Storing user data locally has been one of the major demands of the government. The group has been kept the government in the loop about its efforts to bring back the application in the Indian market.

However, as of now, it isn't clear wether the parent company is looking to partner with the Hiranandani Group’s new venture Tez Platforms or is hoping to store its data in the Yotta Infrastructure Solutions’ data centres. Recentely, the group had announced that it would be investing INR 3,500 crore in in-house consumer tech platform Tez, which will focus on solutions in the entertainment, gaming, social media, ecommerce, personal mobility, artificial intelligence, and blockchain-linked solutions

India was one of the biggest markets for the short-video sharing application, TikTok. The parent company employed over 2,000 people in the country. However, post the ban most of these employees have been let go, while few were handed other responsibilities.

Popular Internet tipster, Mukul Sharma, also known as stufflistings, reported a recent trademark application by the parent company of TikTok, The application for trademark recently filed by the Chinese giant at India’s CGPDTM (Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks) platform, is for the application name 'TickTock'. This indicates the possibility of the app returning with a new name in the Indian market.