Chinese technology company, ByteDance, that owns content platforms like TikTok and Helo has assured the Indian Government of full co-operation.
The company has also reiterated its promise of investing over 1 billion USD in India, one of its most promising markets, over a period of three years.
The company was responding to media reports over the last couple of days that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's (MeitY) Cyber Laws and e-Security wing had sent a list of questions to Helo and TikTok. Failure to respond to these questions by July 22, could invite the risk of a ban.
"Our continued success in India will not be possible without the support of our local community. We take our responsibilities to this community seriously and welcome this opportunity to fully collaborate with the Government to meet and exceed our obligations," said a joint statement by Helo and TikTok.
According to various reports, the charges against TikTok and Helo range from unauthorised data sharing to other charges that the apps promote anti-nationalism. It also questions Helo for putting up morphed political ads on its social media platform.
The action by the Government came after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch's (SJM) Ashwani Mahajan had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban TikTok and Helo alleging that the two social media apps had 'anti-national' content.
The company statement also spoke about the company's intent of staying invested in India. It said, "In line with our commitment to India, we are investing $1 billion dollars in India over the next three years, with a strategic focus on developing technology infrastructure, establishing local partnerships and supporting initiatives such as the Skill India Program which we are proud to be assisting with already."
The statement adds, "We are grateful for the immense support given to us by India’s growing digital community. India is one of our strongest markets and we are happy to be part of the mainframe of Digital India in 15 Indian languages."
