Report: Tiktok still has access to millions of Indian users data

More than three years have passed since TikTok was prohibited in India. However, an explosive report has revealed that the Chinese application of sharing still has access to "troves of personal data of Indian citizens" who used the application widely before the Indian government uproots it for reasons of national security. Forbes reports that the data of Indian users "remain widely accessible to employees at the company and its Beijing-based parent ByteDance." TikTok had approximately 150 million monthly active users in India before the ban was applied.

"I don't think Indians are aware of how much of their data is exposed to China right now, even with the ban in place," said a TikTok employee to Forbes. The report stressed that anyone in the company with basic access to their tools could recover and analyze granular data on previous users of TikTok in India, including public figures and the average person.

Although TikTok is no longer available in India, his Matrix Bytedance company has more than 110,000 employees worldwide, even in China, the United States and Russia. It could be a valuable source of demographic data for companies that seek to point to this age group.

However, TikTok does not agree with the statements made by Forbes. The company has responded by stating that it "have steadfastly complied, and continue to remain in full compliance, with the government of India order since it was implemented"."All user data is subject to our robust internal policy controls surrounding access, retention, and deletion," said the company's spokesman.

Earlier this year, TikTok eliminated his Indian staff of approximately 40 employees, who, according to reports, were promised up to nine months of compensation payment. However, most will only receive three months. A company spokesman said the decision was made to close the Indian remote sales support centre in 2020 to support global and regional sales teams.

"We have taken the decision to close our India remote sales support hub, which was put in place at the end of 2020 to provide support to our global and regional sales teams".We greatly appreciate these employees and their impact on our company, and will ensure they are supported at this difficult time," the TikTok spokesperson said.