TikTok Denies Reports of Returning to India Amid Website Launch News

As reported by TechCrunch on Friday, TikTok continues to face a ban in India, despite a brief period of access to the platform that fueled speculation about a possible return after more than five years.

A spokesperson from TikTok disclosed to TechCrunch that the ban enforced by the Indian government is still in place, indicating that the short-video platform remains unavailable in the country.

“We have not re-established access to TikTok in India and are still adhering to the Government of India’s directive,” the spokesperson shared in a statement to TechCrunch.

An official from India’s IT Ministry also confirmed to TechCrunch, on condition of anonymity, that no steps have been taken to “unblock or revert” the ban imposed under Section 69A of the IT Act.

Earlier on Friday, various local media sources, including major Indian newspapers, suggested the possibility of TikTok’s return in India after some users were able to briefly access the website. These reports referred to social media comments from users claiming the site was operational without a VPN—an unusual situation, given that TikTok has been banned in India since late June 2020 due to heightened tensions with China, resulting in the prohibition of several Chinese-related applications.

The temporary return of TikTok in India appears to have been caused by a network-level misconfiguration. A similar situation occurred in September 2022 when some internet service providers inadvertently lifted restrictions on TikTok and other blocked websites for certain users during a maintenance update, a source familiar with the matter informed TechCrunch at that time.

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