TikTok to close India business over government restrictions, unsure of comeback

China’s ByteDance will shut its India business and cut the 2,000-plus employees to a bare minimum over the uncertainty in making a comeback following a ban on its hugely popular TikTok video app in the country, the company told employees in an internal memo on Wednesday.

Tiktok’s global interim head Vanessa Pappas and vice president for global business solutions Blake Chandlee in a joint email to employees have communicated the decision of the company to reduce its team size and the decision will impact all employees in India.

According to sources at ByteDance, the company is retrenching its workforce in India and will continue to operate with skeletal staff in select department such as legal, administrative, human resource, accounts etc, to facilitate the settlements and engagement with the government.