TikTok owner ByteDance pulls plug on music streaming app Resso in India after government pressure
- The decision came after the government demanded that Apple and Google remove Resso from app stores
- TikTok is also rolling out a separate music platform in five countries to compete with rivals like Spotify
The move comes after the Indian government demanded in December that Apple and Google remove Resso from app stores.
“Unfortunately, owing to local market conditions, we can no longer continue to serve users of Resso in India,” a ByteDance spokesperson told BI. “We have therefore taken the decision to shut down Resso and its associated operations on January 31. Users will be offered a refund of their remaining subscription fees.”
TikTok has been banned in India since 2020, when the government boxed out dozens of China-affiliated apps amid a geopolitical scuffle with the country. Given that it has the same corporate owner as TikTok, how Resso managed to dodge the ban for several years remains a mystery.
TikTok’s removal from India does not seem to have curtailed the app’s growth globally, as the company announced in September 2021 that it had crossed 1 billion users.