India bans video sharing app Tiktok

The Indian government has ordered Google and Apple to take down the Chinese-owned Tiktok video app after a court expressed concerns over the spread of pornographic material.

The app, which claims to have 500 million users worldwide including more than 120 million in India, has been fighting the effort to shut it down after a high court in Chennai called for the ban on 3 April, reports the Guardian.

India's top court on Tuesday refused an appeal by its owner, Chinese company ByteDance, to suspend the order.

Hugely popular with teenagers, it allows people to post short videos of themselves lip-syncing and dancing to their favourite songs, performing short comedy skits or completing challenges.

TikTok has been fined in the US for illegally collecting information on children.

The Madras High Court order asked the federal government to ban TikTok on the grounds that it encouraged pornography and made young users vulnerable to sexual predators. It is due to hear the case again on 22 April.

In its court filing, ByteDance argued that a "very minuscule" proportion of TikTok content was considered inappropriate or obscene.

The company says it has more than 500 million monthly active users around the world.

Source: unb