Banning tiktok not the answer

Recently, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court ordered that the government should prohibit the downloading of the TikTok app. The court further prohibited media from telecasting videos made with the app and asked if the government would enact any law to “prevent children becoming cyber/online” victims. Even as it has triggered a debate, the court’s order has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

TikTok is an app in which short videos can be created. The app has become extremely popular and there is a lot of creative and humorous content being produced by its users. However, as with virtually everything else on the internet, TikTok has a dark side.

Pornographic content is also available on it and the app’s makers have been slow to act on sexually charged, abusive comments directed at child users.

The app has also made little effort to bar users below the age of 13 from signing on.

However, these dangers and others that the court’s order has highlighted exist on every corner of the internet.

Young Indians are particularly vulnerable as many may be first generation users of the internet—their guardians may not know how to protect them. In this context, prohibiting the download of one particular app is a well-meaning but impractical move. Like it or not, the internet is part of our lives.

The best way to protect users, especially children, is to empower them with information.

While, as the court says, the time is indeed nigh for legislation specifically protecting the interests of young users, it is also important for policymakers and internet companies to create education materials targeted at children and their parents.

To begin with, the government must make the safe use of the internet a part of the school and college course curricula.

TikTok is not the only internet company to be lethargic in acting on complaints, Twitter and Facebook have been slow to act as well, aside from doing little to help law enforcement in cracking down on crime.

If such companies value their users and wish to retain them, they should start being proactive in dealing with harmful behaviour on their sites.