TikTok makes a triumphant return to Indian app stores a week after the ban was lifted

• TikTok, a video based social networking app, is back in the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store in India after being banned in the country.
  
• TikTok was banned in India for ‘encouraging pornography’ and ‘degrading culture’.
  
• The ban took one day to enforce but one week to repeal after the Madras High Court lifted its interim order which banned users from downloading TikTok.
  

TikTok, a popular video sharing mobile application, has finally made its return to the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store in India after being banned in the country for ‘encouraging pornography’ and ‘degrading culture’.

While ban on TikTik only took one day to enforce, it took one week to repeal after the Madras High Court lifted the ban on April 25.


It should be noted that while the interim ban has been vacated, the case still continues. So, depending on the final verdict there’s still potential for the app to be banned again.

ByteDance, TikTok’s publisher, fought the ban stating that a ban against TikTok only hurts the civil right to free speech and “amounts to curtailing of the rights of the citizens of India”.

And, while only a week long, the ban was an expensive ordeal for ByteDance. According to a court filing seen by Reuters, the ban was resulting in $500,000 of financial losses per day for Bytedance, the app’s publisher, while TikTok was losing 1 million new users per day.


Sensor Tower estimates that user from India makeup for a large part of TikTok’s usage, home to 300 million of its one billion downloads globally. Even in Q1 2019, India led the number of downloads worldwide, which was more than double the number of its forerunner.


While the case continues in India, TikTok is working on strengthening its efforts to fight against the misuse of its platform. It currently has 13 safety features in place including a way to filter comments, its anti-bullying guidelines and integration of the cVigil App — a solution provided by the Election Commission of India for users to flag any content that doesn’t abide by its Moral Code Code enforced during the elections.

See also:
An Indian court has banned TikTok for ‘encouraging pornography’

Banned for hosting porn, TikTok cites damage to free speech in its appeal to India’s Supreme Court

TikTok ban lifted in India but it has lost at least 2 million users