Supreme Court declines urgent hearing on plea by TikTok seeking ban review

A plea for an urgent hearing over the ban of short video application TikTok has been refused by the Supreme Court. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said he will look into it when sought urgent listing of the case by the lawyer.

TikTok-owned by Bytedance had approached the apex court challenging the April 3 order of the Madras High Court wherein the government has been asked to ban the downloading and usages of the app in Tamil Nadu.

Last week, Madras High Court Madurai bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar had passed an interim order that directed to prohibit downloading of Tik Tok Mobile App effective from April 3.

The media is also prohibited from telecasting the videos made using TikTok mobile app.

The children, who use the said application are vulnerable and may expose them to a sexual predator, the Madras High Court bench had observed.

The Court passed the order after expressing concern that the app hosts inappropriate content, including pornography, which is available for access to children.

The government is yet to respond to the question raised by the court - whether it will come up with the Children's Protection Act similar to the US to prevent the children from becoming online victims or not.

In February, the union government had asked Chinese content apps that have more than 5 million users to set up a local office and appoint senior executive, who could be held responsible in India.

In the last few years, the govt has taken a tough stance and said apps such as TikTok, Bigo, Vigo and others who are seen to be spreading obscenity and threat to children and underage.