In a huge boost for Chinese tech company Bytedance, Madras high court on late Wednesday revoked the interim ban on TikTok app. But the revocation of ban is subjected to the condition that no pornographic content must be allowed to upload on the app. Any violation of this condition would entail contempt of court proceedings for the company.
Madras HC’s judgment is most likely to put an end to Bytedance’s long drawn legal trouble in India; Especially after Indian government last week asked Apple and Google to remove the controversial video-sharing app from their respective play stores. Both tech companies followed the decision in accordance with government order. While writing this story the TikTok app was still unavailable on Google and Apple app stores.
“We are glad about this decision, and we believe it is also greatly welcomed by our thriving community in India, who use TikTok as a platform to showcase their creativity,” said Bytedance in response to Madras HC judgment.
Earlier in the day, Bytedance claimed that it is incurring financial losses of up to $500,000 (nearly Rs. 3.5 crores) a day following the ban on TikTok. It also added that the ban has put more than 250 jobs at risk. Interestingly, while the TikTok app was officially banned since last week the app still witnessed phenomenal increase in its download numbers. This is mostly thanks to the third party websites like APKMirror, a popular website for downloading apps that are unavailable on Google play store.
India is not the only country where TikTok is facing legal problems. Other countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia have also clamped down on the controversial Chinese app for spreading erotic contents among teenagers. However, the Indian market comparatively assumes more importance as it is one of the fastest growing markets for the company.