Government Clarifies: TikTok Remains Banned
Despite growing buzz on social media about TikTok’s return—sparked by reports of partial website access—the Government of India has firmly reiterated that no unblocking order has been issued for TikTok. The ban remains in full effect.
Website Glitch, Not Return
The brief accessibility of TikTok’s website for some users appears to be due to a network-level misconfiguration, not a policy change. Both TikTok’s parent company ByteDance and sources within the Indian IT Ministry confirmed that access was not intentionally restored.
What Was Accessible—and What Wasn’t
Some users could view certain static pages—like the homepage, “About,” or “Contact”—but functional features such as login, video browsing, or uploads remained locked. The app is still unavailable on Indian app stores, and full access to the website remains blocked.
Summary Table
Aspect
Status
App Availability
TikTok remains banned and unavailable on app stores.
Website Access
Partial and temporary access only to static pages; not functional.
Government Stance
No unblocking order issued; rumors of return are false and misleading.
Cause of Access
Likely a technical glitch at the network/provider level.
Official Statements
Government, ByteDance spokesperson, and IT Ministry deny reinstatement.
In short: there’s no legitimate TikTok comeback in India. What some users saw was a fleeting technical hiccup, not a reopening.
TikTok reportedly had nearly 200 million users in India as of January 2020.
Chinese companies had been suspected of building backdoors in their hardware and software, a concern most prominently cited by several countries where officials have been wary of deploying Chinese-made 5G networking equipment.
