The Indian Government ordered Google and Apple to take down the video-sharing app on grounds of circulating pornographic material within the app. India followed Bangladesh in banning the app. TikTok was also charged with a heavy fine of $5.7m in the US after it was revealed that the Chinese-based app collected sensitive, personal information from children through their phones.
TikTok at present has over 500 million users worldwide, of which 120 million reside in India. They have been ruling to impose the ban since April 3rd.
Despite the order, the app still stays on the Apple store. Google has however complied to the request and removed it from Play store on Tuesday.
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok has tried to curb the pornographic content, saying that it had taken down six million videos in India since last July which had infringed its guidelines.
ByteDance said that they’ve taken significant measures to “reinforce” their ongoing commitment to ensure their platform remains a safe and positive space for our Indian users. But Tiktok has continued to be drawn into controversy in India fuelled by the death of a 19-year old guy in Delhi while filming on TikTok.
India pulling out of TikTok is probably an eye-opener, considering the fact that every one in four users is an Indian.
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