Google, Apple block TikTok download in India

NEW DELHI: Google and Apple have blocked the download of TikTok from Play Store and App Store respectively in India, following a request from the government to ban access to the Chinese short video-sharing app that has been downloaded over 230 million times in the country.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had asked Google and Apple to block the app following the Supreme Court's refusal to stay the original Madras HC court order on April 3.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday refused to lift the ban on TikTok and set April 24 the next hearing date. A Google spokesperson told IANS: "As a policy, we don't comment on individual apps but adhere to the law in countries we operate in." TikTok said in a statement that the company has faith in the Indian judicial system.

"We are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India, who continue using TikTok to showcase their creativity and capture moments that matter in their everyday lives," a TikTok spokesperson said.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere, for now, with the Madras High Court's order banning Chinese video app TikTok, and directed further hearing in the matter on April 22.

Expressing concern over the "pornographic and inappropriate" contents of the TikTok, the High Court had, on April 3, directed the Centre to ban the app.

The ban order came after the court noted that children were being exposed to pornographic and inappropriate material. With over 54 million users every month, TikTok allows its users to create and share videos and these may have inappropriate content.

The rise of Chinese short video-sharing app TikTok in India has been so spectacular over the past year that it is now nearly impossible for any social media user to not have come across its content.

These user-created videos that often contain memes, lip-syncing songs and sometimes sleazy posts regularly find ways to other popular social media sites including Facebook, WhatsApp and ShareChat. These are the platforms where most adult social media users are now getting introduced to TikTok.