Residents of India can rejoice once more as the country’s state court has lifted the ban imposed on TikTok, allowing the video-sharing app to return on both – Apple and Google’s app stores.
Earlier this month, India’s Ministry of Electronics and information Technology had ordered the Google Play Store and Apple App Store to remove TikTok for Indian residents after the Madras High Court speculated that the popular app was encouraging pornography and other forms of illicit content through its service.
Although, the ban only affected new users who wished to download the app for the first time – the Chinese owner of the same faced a major blow. This is because India is TikTok’s biggest market in the world and the ban resulted in a $500,000 loss while putting several jobs at risk as well.
According to SensorTower statistics, out of the 1 billion total TikTok downloads, approximately 300 million users are India-based. TikTok also states that they have over 120 million monthly active users from India. In fact, India accounts for 27% of TikTok’s total downloads between December 2017 and December 2018.
However, several Indian politicians and parents claimed that the app included content that was often inappropriate, especially for the minors. The Tamil Nadu court also ruled out the use of TikTok saying that the app had the ability to expose children to sexual predators.
In its defense, TikTok argued that a very small ratio of their videos contained inappropriate material and after the allegation made by the Indian government, they had removed over 6 million videos that breached its term of use and community guidelines.
Before the incident of India, TikTok was fined $5.7 million by the FTC in the USA for violating children’s privacy law (COPPA) that also obligated the app to implement an age gate.
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok welcomed the Indian Government’s decision to lift the ban on their app. They also claimed to work together with the Indian officials to limit illegitimate activity.
The ban, had it been continued, could have also increased scrutiny on other social media apps in India.
Read next: Apple CEO makes Shocking Remarks about Users' Increasing Addiction with Smartphones!
Earlier this month, India’s Ministry of Electronics and information Technology had ordered the Google Play Store and Apple App Store to remove TikTok for Indian residents after the Madras High Court speculated that the popular app was encouraging pornography and other forms of illicit content through its service.
Although, the ban only affected new users who wished to download the app for the first time – the Chinese owner of the same faced a major blow. This is because India is TikTok’s biggest market in the world and the ban resulted in a $500,000 loss while putting several jobs at risk as well.
According to SensorTower statistics, out of the 1 billion total TikTok downloads, approximately 300 million users are India-based. TikTok also states that they have over 120 million monthly active users from India. In fact, India accounts for 27% of TikTok’s total downloads between December 2017 and December 2018.
However, several Indian politicians and parents claimed that the app included content that was often inappropriate, especially for the minors. The Tamil Nadu court also ruled out the use of TikTok saying that the app had the ability to expose children to sexual predators.
In its defense, TikTok argued that a very small ratio of their videos contained inappropriate material and after the allegation made by the Indian government, they had removed over 6 million videos that breached its term of use and community guidelines.
Before the incident of India, TikTok was fined $5.7 million by the FTC in the USA for violating children’s privacy law (COPPA) that also obligated the app to implement an age gate.
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok welcomed the Indian Government’s decision to lift the ban on their app. They also claimed to work together with the Indian officials to limit illegitimate activity.
The ban, had it been continued, could have also increased scrutiny on other social media apps in India.
Read next: Apple CEO makes Shocking Remarks about Users' Increasing Addiction with Smartphones!
