Ban anti-national' TikTok, Helo, RSS outfit urges Modi
Functionaries of the BJP themselves wrote to the EC during the last general election raising these concerns, he said.
New Delhi: Alleging that Chinese social media applications TikTok and Helo have become a hub for “anti-national” content, Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban these two social media applications.
In a letter written to the Prime Minister, SJM national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan highlighted the organisation’s concerns over the two platforms, which he alleged were exposing India’s youth to being influenced by “vested interests”.
“In recent weeks, TikTok has become a hub for anti-national content that is being shared extensively on the application and which can rupture the fabric of our society,” Dr Mahajan said. Alleging that Helo app was found paying '7 crore for over 11,000 morphed political ads on other social media platforms, the SJM’s national con-convenor said some of these ads were using morphed pictures of senior Indian political leaders.
“Functionaries of the BJP themselves wrote to the EC during the last general election raising these concerns,” he said.
Demanding that the Union home ministry ban all the Chinese apps, including TikTok and Helo, in the country, the letter noted that “some segments of the Chinese establishment have negative intentions with regard to the sovereignty and integrity of India.”
The SJM national co-convener said the combination of apps like TikTok and interventions by China can be used to gain access to the private lives of citizens and “create social turmoil in our country”. He said India currently did not have regulations to monitor these applications.