TikTok lays off entire staff in India; got banned in 2020

Nearly three years after TikTok was banned in India, the Bytedance-owned social media app has removed all staff from India. TikTok, which had the second-largest user base in India, was banned in 2020 for national security reasons. Although TikTok lost market share in India, it still had an office in India. TikTok employees working in the India office mainly worked for the Brazil and Dubai markets. Bytedance tried its best to reason with the Indian government but could not find its way back to the Indian markets. The app's fate also hangs in the balance in the United States.

According to the latest developments, the total number of employees working at TikTok India was forty. According to an ET report, the employees received a pink slip Monday after a call and were assured nine months of severance pay.

"The TikTok India employees were told that February 28 would be their last day and were given feelers to look out for other opportunities for some time as it was conveyed that restarting India operations were not going to take off because of the government's stance on Chinese apps," a source close to the organization shared.

Employees working in the India office mainly worked in the Brazil and Dubai markets. TikTok was banned along with 300 other Chinese apps over national security concerns in India. "The entire team was informed. We were anyway told some time ago that business in India might be shut off, so look for jobs. Most people will be given 90 days severance," another source told ET. Bytedance did not comment on the layoffs.

Earlier this month, TikTok elevated Sameer Singh to North America's global head of business solutions. Sameer joined TikTok in 2019.