China ByteDance countersues over Indian government account freeze

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] ByteDance, the operator of China's mobile video platform TikTok, has filed a lawsuit in a local court in response to the Indian government's bank account freezing measures, major foreign media reported on the 4th (local time).

In a petition submitted to the Mumbai High Court on the 25th of last month, ByteDance claimed that the Indian government's freezing of its bank accounts during an investigation into possible tax evasion constituted intentional harassment and was carried out illegally.

They specifically stated that the authorities took the account freezing action without any substantial evidence and ignored the prior notification procedures required by Indian law.

Earlier, Indian authorities froze ByteDance's accounts in India at Citibank, HSBC, and others last month on suspicion of tax evasion.

This bank account freezing order came after Indian tax authorities seized internal documents and conducted related investigations during a raid on ByteDance's India office last year.

Indian tax authorities are tracking cash flows, suspecting that taxes related to online advertising were improperly avoided in transactions between ByteDance's India branch and its affiliated company in Singapore.

A ByteDance India representative said, "The account freezing is causing difficulties in paying employee salaries and payments to partner companies." ByteDance's India branch has approximately 1,300 employees.

This move by Indian authorities aligns with the broader sanctions imposed on Chinese companies following military clashes along the China-India border that resulted in more than 20 Indian soldiers' deaths.

Previously, the Indian government banned over 200 Chinese apps starting in June last year, citing threats to the country's sovereignty and security.

The banned apps include the video platform TikTok, social networking services (SNS) such as WeChat and Weibo, Alibaba's e-commerce platform AliExpress, and the mobile game Battlegrounds.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.