ByteDance’s despondence indicates shape of things to come

The Morning

Context

Harveen Ahluwalia

Mumbai

28 January 2021

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It has been a disappointing week at the India arm of Chinese internet giant ByteDance. Seven months after its popular short-form video app TikTok—and 58 other Chinese apps—was banned in India, the company seems to be giving up on the hope of a return. On Wednesday, TikTok said that it will be scaling back the size of its workforce in India.

More than two-thirds of the company’s workforce is expected to be eliminated, the source said. ByteDance said it was left with no choice after the Indian government, which banned its marquee app late June last year, had offered no clear direction on when TikTok could make a return in the nation, the source said on the condition of anonymity.

“It is deeply regretful that after supporting our 2000+ employees in India for more than half a year, we have no choice but to scale back the size of our workforce. We look forward to receiving the opportunity to relaunch TikTok and

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