April 25, 2019

India’s Ban on TikTok is Affecting More Than 250 Jobs

Also Read: Whatsapp Tops in Circulating Child Abuse Content: Reports
The Court Battle and it’s Content’s Misfortune

Just a few months ago there were rumors regarding the ban on TikTok, the application which has got more than 300 million users in India alone. Some of the Indian political parties had a view this application was not appropriate for kids and honestly they had a point.

Now, just a week ago, the application got officially banned in India and was removed outrageously from both the Play and App store.

Earlier this month, an Indian state court asked the federal government to put a stop on its downloads. They put an acquisition on the app that it somehow promotes pornography. Acting upon the instructions from the federal ministry, Apple and Alphabet’s Google removed the app from the respective app stores in India.

As far as the impacts are concerned; the Beijing Bytedance Technology Co. stated that they are facing constant financial losses up to $500,000 per day, and has put more than 250 jobs on the brim of danger.

With TikTok’s ban, the social media industry in India is operating under a state of fluster as it can see the legal worries mounting if courts increasingly regulate content on their platforms.

On Saturday, Bytedance filed some kind of an urge in the Indian Supreme court. They asked the court to put an end on the ban. They also directed the federal IT ministry to tell the companies such as Google and Apple to make the app available on their respective platforms.

Also Read: Whatsapp Tops in Circulating Child Abuse Content: Reports

Bytedance recently is facing financial losses of more than $500,000 every single day, which has destroyed the company’s company investments and its commercial revenue at the same time. It added the ban would result in its reputation and goodwill taking a hit with both advertisers and investors, which we can admit is not a thing that any company would ever want.

The Court Battle and it’s Content’s Misfortune

So far, the Indian Supreme Court hasn’t provided any relief on constant pleas by the developers and has referred the case back to the state that asked for the app’s ban i.e. Tamil Nadu. It is been said that the case will next be heard on Wednesday.

Its growing popularity has drawn somewhat whacking criticism from Indian politicians and parents who allegedly said that its content is not appropriate. After those acquisitions, the Tamil Nadu Court filed public interest litigation that stated the app could also expose children to sexual predators.

The Supreme Court filing had a table in which Bytedance compared TikTok with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter by listing 13 of its safety features which were carefully put together in the app, including parental controls.

The company said “A very minuscule” proportion of TikTok’s video was considered inappropriate or outrageous.

Other than that, Bytedance also made a statement that goes something like this “the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of free speech and expression of millions of Indians are in great danger.”