A week after being banned by the Madras High Court which led to Apple and Google removing the App from their respective app stores, TikTok has been issued a lift in ban of its video sharing app. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has reversed its ban on TikTok, thus allowing the app to return to Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store.
Earlier this month, a petition was filed in the Madras High Court citing to block the application from the country, for encouraging pornography and illicit content. The court then banned the application and also prohibited the media from telecasting the videos made using TikTok. However, the Chinese company said that it had removed over 6 million videos that violated its guidelines.
While the app wasn’t available on the App Store and Play Store for a week for which it was banned, the removal only prevented new users from downloading the app, as users who had already installed it were able to use it to its full potential.
In a statement to TechCrunch post the ban reversal, TikTok’s developer ByteDance said “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. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue serving our users better. While we’re pleased that our efforts to fight against misuse of the platform has been recognised, the work is never “done” on our end. We are committed to continuously enhancing our safety features as a testament to our ongoing commitment to our users in India”.
TikTok currently has 300 million users in India with over 1 billion global downloads. The app is being used by 120 million monthly active users in the country.