NEW DELHI: On Monday, the government of India banned  59 Chinese apps in the country. A day later, one of the most popular short video applications TikTok has been taken down from both Apple App store and Google Play store. 

In an official statement, Tik Tok India head Nikhil Gandhi said, "The government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including TikTok and we are in the process of complying with it. We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications. TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government." 

Adding, "Further if we are requested to in the future we would not do so.We place the highest importance on user privacy and integrity. TikTok has democratised the internet by making it available in 14 Indian languages, with hundreds of millions of users, artists, story-tellers, educators and performers depending on it for their livelihood, many of whom are first time internet users." 

Users who have the TikTok app downloaded can still use the app and post videos but officially the platform is now banned in the country.

TikTok had nearly 119 million active users in India and was among the top 10 apps on Google Play store and Apple App store.