Tik Tok, which has become a rage among school-going teenagers and college students in India, may get banned in India if the central government agrees to the suggestion from the Madras High Court.
Madras High Court, which was hearing a batch of Public Interest Litigation (PILs) by the citizens and lawyers, agreed that the Tik Tok was making children vulnerable to age-inappropriate content on its video sharing platform.
The order copy in possession with the Reuters also noted that there is a strong possibility of children meeting strangers on Tik Tok app and this 'dangerous aspect' cannot be ignored.
In February, there was a huge uproar in the Tamil Nadu, as several Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) urged the central government to ban Tik Tok, as it promotes pornography and ruin the Indian traditions.
Nagapattinam's Thamimun Ansari, an MLA of ruling party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) during a debate at Tamil Nadu legislative assembly (Fort St George) said TikTok was degrading Indian culture, encourages pornography and also causing law and order problem in the state. As the people's representative, it's their responsibility to ban such nefarious mobile app, Ansari added.
Here's the official Tik Tok response to high court order:
"At TikTok, we are committed to abiding by local laws and regulations. We fully comply with the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011. We are currently awaiting the official order by the Honourable High Court of Madras and once received, we will review and take appropriate action regarding this matter. Maintaining a safe and positive in-app environment at TikTok is our priority. We have robust measures to protect users against misuse, protect their privacy and digital wellbeing. This includes easy reporting mechanisms that enable users and law enforcement to report content that violates our terms of use and comprehensive Community Guidelines. In order to better coordinate with law enforcement agencies, we have appointed a Chief Nodal Officer based out of India." Tik Tok said to International Business Times, India Edition.
Last month, several cities in Gujarat banned the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile), as it would affect students from studying for the exam. Also, the Rajkot City Police passed an order to arrest anybody played the battle royale games between March 9 and March 31. Close to 20 youths were arrested during the month-long ban.
On the bright side, Tik Tok has made positive changes to its video sharing platform to curb cyberbullying in India.
Tik Tok app-maker ByteDance has released the new user-defined word filter that blocks any filthy comments in the video-sharing app. Tik Tok users can self-define 30 Hindi and English words and if required they can re-assign the word as and when they want. Users can add words in the 'Filter Comments' section of the Tik Tok.
