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Comment by spaceman_2020 | Hacker News Reader

spaceman_2020·

The Indian ban on TikTok was very curiously timed as well - right after a major investment in Jio (Reliance) from Facebook.

No other apps were banned after that, nor was there any ban on Chinese smartphones. Trade with China has only increased rapidly since then.

Coincidentally, India is perhaps the only large market where Instagram still dominates

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Not much to do with Facebook. The people and govt were struggling with Covid and govt. wanted to show some action. India also had some border skirmish with China just before that and also the govt wants to reduce dependency on China in general.

The direct trigger was a violent confrontation on the border that led to the loss of life of 20 Indian soldiers. The govt wanted to be seen as taking action, while dependence on Chinese supply chain meant any action on the trade front would hurt India's own economy. So popular Chinese apps were seen as a softer target and banned. Aliexpress was also targeted with shipped products being held up at customs indefinitely, leading to aliexpress ending shipping to India from China.

IIRC the TikTok (and others) ban had to do with some Chinese incursion inside Indian territory, and the government wanted to appear to be doing something.

That's a incorrect and biased piece of sentence. Over 60 apps were banned initially, some before the skirmishes and some after. Kindly do not spread biased political propaganda.

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