TikTok, a short video sharing platform which allows the user to create and share videos with special effect and world most popular application launched in India in August 2017. The company estimated a day worth of $500,000 and gained more than 120 million active users since then. Earlier this month, Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench put a ban on the application, as there was evidence that the application promotes pornography content, soon acting upon the instruction from federal IT minister, Apple andGoogle removed TikTok from their application store. The ban states that 120 million active users will not be affected by the ban but new customers cannot download the application. This leads to a loss of $500,000 per day and over 250 jobs on risk.
The interim order had three major instructions. First, the Madras High Court ordered the government to stop the download of the application, which leads to removing of the app from Google and Apple store. Second, it terminates the media to stop broadcasting videos made from the app. Third, to enact on children’s online privacy.
TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance and claims to have 120 million monthly active users. ByteDance is backed by Japan’s soft bank corp and world most valuable startups having worth 75 billion dollars worldwide. The ban on the application worried the social media industry about the content on their platform. The banning leads to a loss of 1 million new users per day. It is estimated that approximately 6 million requests to download the application could not be entertained due to
ban.
The company appealed to the supreme court of India to remove the ban Within a week or so, the ban was discarded by the supreme court of India on 24th April, in order to keep the content safe and below18+. The case was filed by advocate Muthukumar, the bench leaves its interim order banning the tiktok app, is subject to the condition that pornographic content will not be promoted and uploaded on it, failing which contempt of court proceedings would begin. Sources said the official communication to the companies would be made after it receives the final court directive. “We would like to express our deepest gratitude and thank our over 200 a million users in India for the overwhelming response, support and love they have shown towards TikTok. We are looking forward to continuing our journey with our TikTok family and actively work towards ensuring a safe and positive in-app experience for our users,” Sumedhas Rajgopal, Entertainment Strategy and Partnerships Lead, TikTok (India), said in a statement.
Most importantly, the interim court sets another example by passing censorship orders that have no basis in law and for every one law are one. However, a ban on the application sends signals of regulatory to the technology companies who promote unauthorised content.
