At the time, India was TikTok’s biggest foreign market outside of China, with 200 million users. (For comparison, the U.S. currently has over 170 million TikTok users.) Following military clashes along the disputed border between India and China,

TikTok's popularity has been met with bans in several countries, including the US, due to national security and data privacy concerns. From Afghanistan to India, governments have taken action, sparking debate about the platform's future.

India’s 2020 crackdown helped give rise to Instagram Reels, which has largely replaced it there. But TikTok has proved more resilient elsewhere.