New Delhi: The Supreme Court today directed the Madras High Court to decide on 24 April a plea of TikTok app seeking vacating its ban order.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, said if the Madras High Court failed to decide on the plea of TikTok app, then its ban order will stand vacated.
The apex court had earlier refused to stay the Madras High Court order that directed the Centre to ban the TikTok app over concerns about access to pornographic content through it.
Earlier this month, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had directed the Centre to ban TikTok as it voiced concern that ‘pornographic and inappropriate content’ being made available through such apps.
A bench, comprising justices N Kirubakaran and S S Sundar, ordered media not to telecast video clips made with TikTok. The app allows users to create short videos and then share them.
The bench asked the government if it would enact a statute like the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act in the US and posted the matter for further hearing 16 April.
It passed the interim order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition which sought to ban TikTok app on the ground that it allegedly contained content that ‘degraded culture and encouraged pornography’.
Even after the havoc caused by Blue Whale online game, which reportedly led to suicides of several people, officials had not learnt that they should be alert to these types of problems, the bench said.