India Cracked Down on Chinese Apps - Many Still Thrive Under the Radar

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Rest of World found at least eight of India’s 100 most-downloaded free apps to be from Chinese companies like ByteDance, Xiaomi, Alibaba, and Joyy.

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Over the last two years, the short-form video app, Tiki, has helped fill the void left by the 2020 ban on TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps in India.

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During the first half of this year, the app ranked as roughly the 10th most popular social app in India by downloads.

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Since its launch in February 2021, as many as 96% of Tiki’s lifetime downloads have been from India.

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Tiki’s CEO and co-founder, Ian Goh, has frequently used the tagline “Make in India” to describe the app’s impact.

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In one recent interview, Goh suggested the platform was meeting the needs of “real Indian content creators.”

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The app’s tagline mirrors the Narendra Modi government’s flagship “Make in India” initiative to boost manufacturing in the country.

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A Rest of World audit of the Google Play store indicated that at least eight of the 100 most-downloaded free apps in India may be owned by large Chinese parent companies.

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Each of these companies was targeted in the bans on more than 320 Chinese apps by the Indian government over the past two years.

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