Over the past few years, ByteDance has invested more than $1 billion in India, and now almost all of its products are banned in India, resulting in a loss of more than $6 billion, 36Kr reported, citing people close to ByteDance.
ByteDance's apps TikTok and Helo have been removed from the Indian app store.
The people said that the amount is most likely more than the combined losses of all the remaining banned companies.
The Indian government issued a notice on Monday banning 59 mobile applications from the Indian market on the grounds that they "affect national security”.
Although the announcement did not explicitly target Chinese companies, the vast majority of the banned apps were developed by Chinese Internet companies.
These include TikTok, HELO, VIGO VEDIO from ByteDance, and WeChat, QQ, QQ Player, QQ Music, QQ Mail, QQ News from Tencent, as well as Xiaomi Video, UC Browser, Baidu Map, and Weibo.
In the Indian government's announcement, the action against mobile apps is highlighted as being based on "national security". The announcement argued that the banned apps did not comply with regulations regarding the collection of user data.
It said user data is stored on servers outside of India and could be used to mine and exploit data that is hostile to India's national security and defense.
