Media, digital sovereignty and geopolitics: the case of the TikTok ban in India

Abstract

TikTok, one of the most downloaded apps in the world, has been banned in India since June 2020, following military clashes on the India-China border. This article focuses on government narratives of the TikTok ban in the Indian media and situates the issue within the broader geopolitical framework of deteriorating Sino-Indian relations and attempts for digital sovereignty. At a time of strong nationalist discourses dominating the political and social communication in India, it is perhaps unsurprising that the narratives have been seen outside India as protectionism. However, this paper argues that the digital sovereignty in the Indian context is not exclusionary but aims to create a robust digital infrastructure that is critical for economic development and self-reliance. Highlighting the lessons from India, this paper concludes the following: (i) digital sovereignty is a form of discourse which does not imply any specific policy, (ii) digital sovereignty relates to user control over their data, however, the role and limits of the State is not clearly defined and (iii) digital platforms are highly vulnerable to changing geopolitics in which their existence is not determined by user-platform interactions but by international relations.

Governing Chinese technologies: TikTok, foreign interference, and technological sovereignty

“…While the splinternet threatens to reduce economic benefits of globalisation (Bauer et al, 2014), it is al-so increasingly considered in the context of technological sovereignty and national economic benefit. For example, India's approach to a nationwide ban of TikTok reflects a determined approach to sovereignty via data localisation strategies (Kumar & Thussu, 2023). Whether or not data balkanisation would limit foreign surveillance activities is also not clear (Fraser, 2016, pp.…”

“…Likewise, in March 2023, the EU implemented a ban on government devices (McCallum, 2023), as did the UK in March 2023 (Sabbagh, 2023) and Australia in April 2023 (Dreyfus, 2023). A series of other countries followed suit, including the other two Five Eyes countries New Zealand (Neilson, 2023) and Canada (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 2023), as well as several others, like India, that banned the app altogether (Kumar & Thussu, 2023). Since the 1980s, global technological engagement with China, and in turn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has grown, propelling the nation to the forefront of the international economic landscape despite well documented human rights concerns.…”

“…This arrangement enabled US TikTok data to "communicate with the global TikTok service in controlled and monitored ways"(TikTok, n.d.). This form of data localisation can be viewed as part of a national technological and digital sovereignty strategy, whether articulated explicitly or more formally via regulatory actions(Kumar & Thussu, 2023). Additionally, TikTok opened "Transparency and Accountability Centers" digitally and in Los Angeles, considered an attempt to avoid a domestic ban(Grandinetti, 2021).Prior to a 2023 Congressional hearing, the Biden administration continued with the hard stance of divestiture or TikTok running the risk of a nationwide ban in case of divestiture refusal.…”