[nasheman news] On Monday (April 15), the Supreme Court of India has refused to stay the order of Madras High Court to ban the Chinese video sharing platform TikTok.
Last week (April 8), the Supreme Court of India had rejected an urgent hearing plea by Chinese media giant ByteDance (India) against ban imposed on its TikTok app by Madras High Court.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Bytedance (India) Technology Pvt. Ltd, owner of Tik Tok, argued for a stay against the ban, contending that it was causing the company irreparable damage.
However, the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi along with justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjeev Khanna ordered the case be heard after the Madras High Court made its observations tomorrow (April 16) with both parties present before it.
The Madurai bench ordered a ban on TikTok as it noted that the app exposes children to pornography, and makes them vulnerable to sexual predators online.
Also, there are reports about third party videos being uploaded on to the app without consent, which is a violation of the right to privacy. The court had asked the government to ban the downloading of the app and also asked the government to answer if it will be enacting a statute to protect children against cybercrime, similar to the one enacted in the US (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act).
The court had observed that there was inappropriate content, including pornography, on the platform that was easily accessible to children.
The Supreme Court will now be hearing the case on April 22. The ban comes in the light of rapid and far reaching growth of the Chinese social media apps in India.
In an email statement, TikTok spokesperson told Inc42, “At TikTok, we have faith in the Indian Judicial system and the stipulations afforded to social media platforms by the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011. We are committed to continuously enhancing our existing measures and introducing additional technical and moderation processes as part of our ongoing commitment to our users in India.”
Story By : Faizan rizwan
