Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Tiktok faces downvotes as NCW leads chorus for ban

- Amrita Madhukalya amrita.madhukalya@hindustant­imes.com

We wrote to Tiktok to take it down and they cooperated. Soon, we were shown hundreds of videos, with abusive content; videos inferring rape, domestic abuse and molestatio­ns. We got in touch with Tiktok and showed them some more of the videos; we are waiting for their response

Tiktok, a video-sharing social networking site owned by Chinese firm Bytedance, where millions of Indians post short videos of just about anything is in the midst of a storm with the National Commission of Women (NCW) and the Rashtriya Swayamseva­k Sangh (RSS) both turning their guns on it.

Rekha Sharma, the chairperso­n of the National Commission for Women said that several videos of women being abused have been shared on the platform. She said on Twitter that she is of the strong opinion that the platform should be banned. The chairperso­n of the National Commission for Women said her attention was drawn to a video where a person seemed to be throwing acid on a girl. “We wrote to Tiktok to take it down and they cooperated. Soon, we were shown hundreds of videos, with abusive content; videos inferring rape, domestic abuse and molestatio­ns. We got in touch with Tiktok and showed them some more of the videos; we are waiting for their response,” said Sharma. The Rashtriya Swayamseva­k Sangh’s paper, Organiser, in an editorial accused video-sharing social networking site Tiktok of enabling Chinese propaganda, harbouring

Islamic terrorism and of allowing Muslim men to flout safety measures.

A Tiktok spokespers­on said that the platform clearly outlines in its terms of service and community guidelines what is not acceptable on the platform.

It’s Twitter profile described the platform as “just an anti-fake news account”.

“Keeping people on Tiktok safe is a top priority and as per the policy, we do not allow content that risks safety of others, promotes physical harm or glorifies violence against women. The behaviour in question violates our guidelines and we have taken down content, suspended the account, and are working with law enforcemen­t agencies as appropriat­e,” the Tiktok spokespers­on said.

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