Representational photo.

NEW DELHI: Popular Chinese video app TikTok , estimated to have over 20 crore downloads (and even more users) in India, is in fresh regulatory trouble. The government has sought answers to a voluminous list of 24 questions, ranging from alleged unlawful usage by children to carriage of content which is obscene and anti-national.

The government also wants to know whether the company, which has seen blistering growth in India, stores its data locally and whether it has taken enough steps to sensitise children and parents to ensure safe use of the platform and “avoid any addictiveness of the application” by the younger generation.

This is the second time in the past few months that the company, which also offers regional social-media app Helo , has faced regulatory heat. In April this year, Tiktok was banned after a court directive said the app encouraged pornography and could expose children to sexual predators. The suspension, however, was revoked after an appeal by the company’s parent Beijing Bytedance Technology Co.

“As alleged in news items, the platforms (TikTok and Helo) have become a hub for anti-national activities. Please share your response,” said one of the questions sent by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity).

The detailed scrutiny by the ministry follows a complaint by the RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch, which has also written to the Prime Minister alleging that the Chinese platforms are being used for anti-national and illegal activities.

Asking what kind of data is being collected in India by TikTok and Helo, the government wanted to know where the information is being stored. “You have informed that the data is stored in US and Singapore only, and not in China. Could you confirm/assure the Indian government that the data of Indian users will not be transferred to any other foreign government, or any third party or private entity in future also?... Are TikTok and Helo considering storing/processing this data in India?”

The government also asked whether the Helo app has “paid a huge sum for putting 11,000 morphed political ads on other social media platforms.”

The ministry asked TikTok whether it restricts usage of the app among children, or those below the age of 18 years through its ‘age gate’ mechanism. It also asked whether the ‘age gate’ mechanism can be made applicable for users who are already registered.

Bytedance is one of the world's most valuable start-ups, even though both TikTok and Helo are not offered in home market China. TikTok features memes and short-format music videos, with some clips showing youngsters, some scantily clad, lip-syncing and dancing to popular tunes.

The government has asked the company to respond to its list of questions by July 22. In a statement, a spokesperson for Bytedance said, “we take our responsibilities to this community seriously and welcome this opportunity to fully collaborate with the government to meet and exceed our obligations."

The spokesperson further said India is one of the strongest markets for the company, and it intends to invest $1 billion here over the next three years. This will be for having a strategic focus on developing technology infrastructure and establishing local partnerships.

The government, however, wants detailed answers to its queries. "It is stated that there are lot of obscene content available on TikTok platform. Please explicitly confirm your policy on the same and the preventive/corrective measures taken to ensure that such contents does not appear on the platform” is one of the queries.

Also, it has asked whether the company is in compliance of the IT (Intermediary Rules) 2011. “Please also confirm your specific compliance to other Indian laws applicable to you apart from IT Law.”

TikTok officials said a detailed response to the queries is being prepared and would be sent to the government soon.

