On June 29, the Ministry of Information Technology of India announced that it will disable 59 Chinese applications, including TikTok, WeChat, QQ, etc.
According to the latest data from SensorTower, in the first half of 2020, TikTok downloaded nearly 600 million times. Thus, we are dealing with the most popular mobile application in the first half of 2020. In March this year, as many countries around the world were blocked due to the epidemic, TikTok downloads surged to 115 million times. And since April and May, the downloads have remained over 100 million.
SensorTower said that in the first half of this year, TikTok downloads were increased by 88.7% over the same period last year. The top three markets were India, Brazil, and the United States, accounting for 27.5%, 9.6%, and 8.2% respectively. Globally, TikTok is still undergoing rapid fission.
Indian Version Of TikTok Had The Same Fortune
Interestingly, a couple of months ago, the Indian version of TikTok, Mitron was gaining popularity. ‘Mitron’ actually means ‘friend’ in Hindi. According to a report from CNBC-TV18, all source code of Mitron application, including a full set of functions and user interface, was purchased from Pakistan software developer, Qboxus, for $34.
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The all-new social media platform is designed by an IIT Roorkee student Shivam Agarwal. Since its official launch on Google Play Store, the app has managed to taste some immense popularity in a short span of time. The app has an average rating of 4.7 stars with more than 5 million downloads. In fact, it has even managed to be in the top 3 free apps list.
But everything is not as clear as you think. We mean you may be thinking India did this to open more room for its own app. Recently, Google has removed Mitron from its Play Store.
Why Did Google Remove Mitron?
The reason Google removed the app is that it violates the ‘junk apps and least features’ policy. Under the policy, the application should provide basic functionality and respect for the user experience for the user. Another provision of the policy refers to ‘duplicate content’, which means that ‘copying content from other apps without adding any original content or value’ amounts to a violation.
At present, the application is still suspended in the Play Store. However, if the developer believes that the application meets basic policy standards, it can appeal to Google.
