The China factor: TikTok ban lifted

With millions of people in India already using TikTok and all of them having the option to share the app with others, blocking its access on Google Play Store and Apple App Store may not produce the desired results, experts have warned. TikTok, which is very popular among children, is facing criticism from different quarters for circulation of “pornographic content”

The rise of Chinese short video-sharing app TikTok in India has been so spectacular over the past year that it is now nearly impossible for any social media user to not have come across its content.

These user-created videos that often contain memes, lip-syncing songs and sometimes sleazy posts regularly find ways to other popular social media sites including Facebook, WhatsApp and ShareChat. These are the platforms where most adult social media users are now getting introduced to TikTok.

With millions of people in India already using TikTok and all of them having the option to share the app with others, blocking its access on Google Play Store and Apple App Store may not produce the desired results, experts have warned. TikTok, which is very popular among children, is facing criticism from different quarters for circulation of “pornographic content”.

Google and Apple blocked the download of the Chinese short videosharing app, following a request from the government.

But there are some market and technical realities which will not make the ban very effective on the ground and the possible issues and concerns will continue to bother people, increasingly worrying parents, according to market research firm techARC.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, after initially refusing to lift the ban on TikTok and setting April 24 the next hearing date, lifted the ban on video mobile application TikTok that day.

The decision came two days after the Supreme Court told the Madras High Court that the ban would be automatically lifted if a decision was not given by 24 April.

The ban was lifted subject to condition that pornographic videos will not be uploaded on the app, failing with the contempt of court proceedings would begin.

TikTok’s owner, Chinese company ByteDance, had moved the SC regarding the ban.

TikTok said in a statement that the company has faith in the Indian judicial system. “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,” a TikTok spokesperson said.

Expressing concern over the “pornographic and inappropriate” contents of the TikTok, the High Court had, on April 3, directed the Centre to ban the app.

The ban order came after the court noted that children were being exposed to pornographic and inappropriate material. With over 54 million users every month, TikTok allows its users to create and share videos and these may have inappropriate content.

Any existing user of TikTok, who has the app installed on the smartphone, can share it with any such seeker through apps like ShareIt. Once the app is shared, the user can install the app and become a new user, said Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst at techARC.

“There is a need to have a holistic approach to get rid of such increasing digital menace, which cannot be absolved by technology and/or legal recourse alone,” Kawoosa said.

TikTok needs to do more to ensure age restrictions are followed and use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other means to take down inappropriate content.

“In particular, the case exposed the weaknesses in Indian laws towards safeguarding children online. To remedy this, the Court had suggested the enactment of an act along the lines of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, 1998 of the US. Looking at the current laws in India as well as the upcoming Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018, it is clear that not just a privacy law, but an approach that protects children online as a whole is very much required,” said an analysis in Tech2, a technology web journal.

“The TikTok case brought into focus certain vulnerabilities in Indian law, pointing to the need to strengthen not just privacy law but also intermediary law in this context.”