TikTok App blocked in India by Google after court order: Report

New Delhi, Apr 17: Google has blocked access to TikTok in India to comply with the Madras High Court's order to prohibit its downloads, news agency Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, allows users to create short videos and then share them. The court had directed the Centre to ban the Tiktok app over concerns about access to pornographic content through it.

The move comes hours after the high court refused a request by China's Bytedance Technology to suspend a ban on its TikTok app, putting its future in one of its key markets in doubt.

The high court had on April 3 directed the Centre to ban mobile application "TikTok" as it voiced concern over the "pornographic and inappropriate content" being made available through such apps.

It had directed the media not to telecast video clips made with TikTok. The app allows the users to create short videos and then share them.

It had asked the government if it would enact a statute on the line of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in the US and posted the matter for further hearing on April 16.

The high court's interim order came on a public interest litigation (PIL) which alleged that the app encouraged paedophiles and the content "degraded culture and encouraged pornography".

Even after the havoc caused by Blue whale online game, which reportedly led to suicides by several people, officials have not learnt that they should be alert to these types of problems, the high court said.

The company has also introduced an 'age-gate' feature for its new users that will only allow users aged 13 years and above only to login and create an account on TikTok. It does not disclose data such as country-specific user numbers.