The court will again hear the matter on April 22. (Reuters)The Supreme Court Monday refused to stay the Madras High Court order directing the Centre to ban the ‘TikTok’ app over concerns about access to pornographic content through it. Referring to the Madras High Court order, the apex court said that it is an interim order and the case is already listed before the court for a hearing on April 16.
The court further said that it will hear the matter next on April 22.
Supreme Court declines to stay Madras High Court order asking centre to ban download of TikTok app. Says it’s an interim order & matter already listed before Madras HC tomorrow. Fixes April 22 to hear it @IndianExpress
— Ananthakrishnan G (@axidentaljourno) April 15, 2019
Earlier, on April 3, the Madras High Court issued an interim direction to the Centre asking it to ban downloading of mobile app TikTok, observing that pornography and other inappropriate content were being made available through it. The court also sought to prohibit media from airing TikTok videos.
It directed the media not to telecast video clips made with TikTok. The app allows users to create short videos and then share them.
The high court had passed the interim order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition which sought to ban Tik Tok app on the ground that it allegedly contained contents that “degraded culture and encouraged pornography”.
Court had also observed that countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh have already banned the app in their countries and the United States has passed ‘Children Online Privacy Act’ to prevent children from cyber crimes.
