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There’s also a risk of having under
age users share too much of their
personal information with strang-
ers without fully understanding the
potential consquences.
Bangladesh banned the app two
months ago because the country was
cracking down on pornography. Indo-
nesia also banned it last July because
of questionable content. However, it
was restored a week later.The case that stopped
TikTok downloads in India
The court hearing the TikTok case
issued a rambling order earlier this
month. It recited the petitioner’s claim
that TikTok is plagued with pornog-
raphy and exposes young people to
sexual predators. The order also cites
claims that the app spoils the mind
and leads to suicide.
“The government has the social
responsibility to prevent these kinds
of applications,” the two-judge panel
wrote regarding the app.Google and Apple have now removed
TikTok from their India app stores
this Tuesday. The move came after
the country’s Supreme Court refused
to block a lower court’s ruling to stop
anyone in India downloading TikTok.
As said above, the lower court ruled
to block all new downloads of TikTok
because it wanted to protect the well-
being of children in India.
This is a big deal for TikTok.
Though the app already has over 120
million users in India, that number
currently cannot grow. Considering
how many people do live in India and
haven’t downloaded the app yet, this
is a huge market loss for TikTok.
Plus, India isn’t the only country
questioning TikTok’s ability to filter
out inappropriate content. Govern-
ments all around the world, including
the United States, are wary of TikTok.
The app currently has very few filters
in place to prevent its users from
posting questionable content on the
popular video sharing platform.TikTok says it will work harder to
remove questionable content
The court issued its first order without
a response from TikTok. Regardless,
TikTok says it respects the court’s de-
cision and is working on the flaws that
have been pointed out.
“We have faith in the Indian judicial
system,” TikTok said in a statement.
The company went onto state that it’s
working harder to remove objection-
able content from the platform. Ac-
cording to TikTok, they’ve taken down
six million videos in India.The larger debate about
false information on social media
There’s been a bigger debate in India
about the spread of false information
on social media. The country has
debated over the inability of social
media to stop the spread of false
information. TikTok is one of the
platforms in that debate. The country
has also debated the dangers to chil-
dren posed by mobile technology and
the vast influence of American and
Chinese tech forces.
“There is a belief that Chinese apps
are a threat to national security,” said
Salman Waris, an expert in interna-
tional technology law at TechLegis in
New Delhi. Waris also said restrict-
ing platforms like TikTok is tricky.
Platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp
and YouTube could face the same
ban because they face the same issue
with inappropriate content.Sean Berry is a blogger and Videomaker Con-
tributing Editor.by Sean BerryIndia blocks all TikTok downloads
to protect children
TikTok has hit a major roadblock. India’s Supreme
Court sided with a lower court’s order to halt new
downloads of TikTok to protect children.INDUSTRY NEWS
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