TikTok quietly hiring in India: Is a comeback on the cards?
Two new job postings in Gurgaon hint at ByteDance’s continued interest in India, even as TikTok remains blocked by the government.
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TikTok's latest moves have reignited speculation about its possible return to India, even as the government reiterates that the Chinese short-video app remains banned.
The current job postings are both linked to TikTok's Trust and Safety Division:
- Content Moderator (Bengali Speaker): The role focuses on monitoring, filtering, and removing harmful content while ensuring cultural nuance and online safety for users. Candidates must be fluent in both English and Bengali, and need to have an understanding of internet rules.
- Wellbeing Partnership and Operations Lead: A senior role responsible for building wellbeing programmes, managing partners, and overseeing compliance with global policies.
The ByteDance-owned short-video platform was banned in India in June 2020, along with 58 other Chinese apps, after border clashes in Galwan Valley.
The government cited national security and data privacy concerns as the reasons for the sweeping restrictions. Before the ban, TikTok had nearly 200 million users in India, making the country one of its largest markets.
While the ban remains firmly in place and TikTok continues to be unavailable for both Google Play Store and Apple App Store, the new recruitment activity points to ByteDance maintaining a foothold in India.
ByteDance's quiet hiring drive coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, where both leaders agreed to work on improving bilateral ties.
