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Google, Apple removes TikTok from their Stores

The Beijing-based Bytedance Co’s TikTok app has more than 54 million monthly active users in the country and over one billion downloads.

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tiktok banned in india

TikTok, a Chinese short video creating app is now officially unavailable from Android and Apple App Store in India, following a directive from Supreme Court to stay the ban on the app. Earlier this month, Madras High Court issued ban on the app after a petition was filed alleging the social platform promotes pornography, child abuse, and suicide.

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The Beijing-based Bytedance Co’s TikTok app has more than 54 million monthly active users in the country and over one billion downloads. The app has been severely criticised in India by social activists for degrading the culture of the Indian society.

The app makers sought a stay on the ban which was later dismissed by apex authority. Soon after the SC judgement, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had asked Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their respective app stores.

After the stay was cancelled, the Madras High court appointed Arvind Datar as an independent counsel.

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‘We welcome the decision of the Madras High Court to appoint Arvind Datar as Amicus Curae (independent counsel) to the court. We have faith in the Indian judicial system and we are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India, who continue using TikTok to showcase their creativity and capture moments that matter in their everyday lives,’ TikTok said in an emailed statement.

The Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna has now listed the case for April 22, where the apex court will be given an update on the developments that take place at the Madras High Court.

The app has faced intense outage from authorities for quality control. The addition of youngsters and cyberbullying were other reasons cited that led to the vanishing of app from the app stores.

While the app is no longer available on the app stores, the app can still be used by the users who already have it downloaded on their phones.

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