Propaganda calling for a global ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform TikTok has been increasing on social media.
Following allegations that TikTok is spying on consumer information, the demand for action against the social networking app has been trending since Friday morning and more than 10,000 tweets calling for a ban were posted in less than 10 hours.
Worldwide hacker Group ‘Anonymous’ alleged that TikTok has embedded malware to leak information to the Chinese government.
The collective Anonymous, known for its vigorous attacks on its targets, has accused TikTok of spying on millions of its users. They say TikTok has plenty of security and privacy issues.
Another allegation is that the company is giving China a chance to observe children and young people and analyse their commercial and political interests.
TikTok has been seen continuously reading the information on the clipboard of Apple's iOS 14 Beta version, they alleged.
India has recently banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, following the clash between the Indian and Chinese armies in Galwan, Ladakh, on June 15-16. The strained relations with China have been characterised by the current stand-off along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
According to a report by Sensor Tower, a mobile app analyst, TikTok received over 1.12 billion downloads in May. A major proportion of these downloads came from India. India has more than twice the number of downloads than the US, the report adds.
It says that India's move to ban TikTok would undermine the confidence of investors and traders from the Chinese market.
TikTok had over 200 million users in India, most of them in the 16-24 age bracket, according to some reports. The social media giant is owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based internet technology company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming.
However, there are influencers who feel that banning TikTok is not much of a loss because of its non-democratic algorithm.
Among the other banned Chinese apps are UC Browser, Helo, Likee, CamScanner, Vigo Video, Mi Video Call Xiaomi and Clash of Kings.