TikTok has denied reports of its return to India after its website briefly became accessible on Friday, sparking speculation of a possible comeback more than five years after the ban.
A TikTok spokesperson clarified that the short video platform remains unavailable in the country under the Indian government’s order. “We have not restored access to TikTok in India and continue to comply with the Government of India’s directive,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology also confirmed on condition of anonymity that the government has not taken any steps to revoke the restrictions placed on TikTok under Section 69A of the IT Act.
Earlier in the day, several local news outlets reported that TikTok was making a comeback in India after some users claimed they could access the website without using a VPN. The reports quickly gained traction on social media, as the platform has been unavailable in the country since June 2020. That year, India banned TikTok along with several other apps linked to Chinese companies amid escalating tensions between the two nations.
The sudden reappearance of the site is believed to have been caused by a technical issue. According to a source familiar with the matter, the accessibility was the result of a network-level misconfiguration. A similar incident was reported in September 2022, when some internet service providers unintentionally allowed access to TikTok and other blocked platforms while applying updates.
For now, TikTok remains banned in India, and there is no indication from either the company or the government that the situation has changed.
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