On August 22, some media outlets hinted that TikTok was making a comeback in India after the short video platform’s website was accessible for users. While TikTok’s website can now be accessed without a VPN, the app remains unavailable on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
“We have not restored access to TikTok in India and continue to comply with the Government of India’s directive,” a TikTok spokesperson told TechCrunch in an emailed statement.
The publication also stated that a senior official working for the IT Ministry confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that the ban imposed under Section 69A of the IT Act hasn’t been revoked and that the government hasn’t “unblocked or done anything” regarding TikTok.
The reappearance of TikTok’s website in India may be because of a network-level misconfiguration. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the publication also said that in September 2022, a similar incident took place when some internet service providers accidentally unblocked TikTok and other banned websites when applying a patch.
This is how the TikTok website looks in 2025. (Express Photo)
To give you a quick recap, the government had banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, ShareIt, UC Browser and others back in 2020, saying that they were a threat to India’s security. The move came amid a stand-off with Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
This was followed by another ban wave in 2022, which saw some popular games like Players Unknown BattleGrounds (PUBG) and Garena Free Fire disappearing from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, but the Krafton-owned shooting game made a comeback in the country as BattleGrounds Mobile India (BGMI) the following year after talks with the government.
Fast forward to 2025 – Shein, a fast fashion brand that was banned in the initial wave, re-entered India, renamed as SHEIN India Fast Fashion. As relations between the two countries warmed up, Chinese apps like Xender and TanTan that were previously banned also made a comeback as “Xender: File Share, Share Music”, “TanTan – Asian Dating App”.
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As for Bytedance, the company behind TikTok, is yet to reach some sort of agreement with the government despite talking to the authorities multiple times in the last few years.
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