India lifts ban on TikTok

An Indian High Court has lifted its ban on Chinese social media app TikTok with the condition that the platform should not be used to host obscene videos.

A Madurai bench of the Madras High Court comprising Justices N Kirubakaran and S S Sundar, which heard the matter as per the orders of the Supreme Court, withdrew the ban on TikTok on Wednesday and warned that if any "controversial" video violating its conditions were found posted using the app, it would be considered a contempt of court, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The High Court had on April 3 directed the Indian government to ban TikTok, which is used to create short videos, voicing concern over "pornographic and inappropriate content" being made available through such apps, the correspondent added.

Hearing a plea by the Chinese company ByteDance, which owns the TikTok app, challenging the ban, the Supreme Court has refused to stay the Madras High Court order but asked the firm to raise its grievances before the High Court.

An apex court bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna had on Monday directed the high court to decide on Wednesday the plea for vacating its earlier ban order.