The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear on April 15 a plea against the Madras High Court’s order to the Centre to ban the download of the TikTok app over claims that it contains pornographic content, PTI reported. TikTok is a popular mobile application that allows users to create short lip-synced videos.
On Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had refused an urgent listing of the plea. Gogoi said the plea will come up for hearing in due course of time. ByteDance (India) Technology Private Limited, which owns the mobile application, filed a special leave petition against the lower court’s April 3 order.
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had ordered the Centre to prohibit the downloading of the app and banned the media from telecasting videos made using the app.
The High Court had expressed concern that the app hosted inappropriate content, including pornography, and that children were exposed to strangers online. “It is said that TikTok app is mostly played by the teenagers and young people and it has proved to be an addictive one,” the court’s order said.
In July 2018, Indonesia had banned the app for containing “pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy”, while Bangladesh blocked the app in February.
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