Social networking platform TikTok plans to withdraw from the Hong Kong market within days, according to spokesman who talked to Reuters on Monday.
The decision came after China implemented a new national security law in Hong Kong.
“In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong,” a TikTok spokesman said when Reuters asked them about its presence in the market.
The short form video app owned by China-based ByteDance previously said that the user data on the app is not stored in China.
Now run by former Walt Disney executive Kevin Mayer, TikTok has also previously said that it would not grant any requests from Beijing to censor content or for access to the social networking app’s user data, nor has it ever been requested to do so.
A source knowledgeable of the decision said the Hong Kong region is a small, loss-making market for the company. TikTok reported having 150,000 users in Hong Kong last August.
Meanwhile, data from Sensor Tower showed that TikTok has been downloaded over 2 billion times through the Apple and Google app stores after the first quarter of 2020.
According to the source, TikTok’s decision to leave the Hong Kong market was based on the uncertainties surrounding Hong Kong being under Beijing’s jurisdiction.
TikTok was structured in a way that mainland China could not access it. This is considered a part of a strategy to attract a more global audience.
ByteDance runs a similar short video sharing app called Douyin in China. A company spokesman confirmed that there are no current plans to introduce Douyin to the Hong Kong market.
Police cooperation
Meanwhile, other social networking apps such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Google and Telegram announced they are "pausing" cooperation with requests for user data from the Hong Kong police. While their services are not accessible in mainland China, Apple's remain accessible.
"We understand the right of privacy of our Hong Kong users," Chat app Telegram, which was first to announce such plan, told the Hong Kong Free Press.
"Accordingly, Telegram does not intend to process any data requests related to its Hong Kong users until an international consensus is reached in relation to the ongoing political changes in the city."
"We believe freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and support the right of people to express themselves without fear for their safety or other repercussions," Facebook said.
WhatsApp emphasized the importance of keeping conversations online private. "We remain committed to providing private and secure messaging services to our users in Hong Kong," the firm said.
In the US, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp require a subpoena to give "basic subscriber records" such as the person's name, IP (internet protocol) address and email address.” Google announced it halted production on any new data requests when the national security legislation was implemented. "We'll continue to review the details of the new law," a Google spokeswoman told the BBC.
