Supreme Court directs Madras High Court to decide on TikTok ban till April 24

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Madras High Court to decide on its interim ban on TikTok video application by April 24. The ban on the Chinese application which has over 54 million Indian subscribers will be revoked if the High Court fails to give its decision on a plea filed by Chinese company Bytedance, which owns TikTok, the top court has said.

Bytedance, in its petition, told the top court that the interim order was passed by the Madras High Court without even hearing them.

The top court had earlier refused to stay the Madras High Court interim order that directed the centre to ban the video app over concerns that it encourages pornography.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, which is hearing another petition that alleges the app "degrades culture and encourages pornography", had earlier said children who were using TikTok were vulnerable to exposure to sexual predators.

Challenging the High Court order in Supreme Court, Bytedance said, such restrictions will "hurt free speech". A ban "amounts to curtailing of the rights of the citizens of India...who have been using the platform everyday to express themselves and create content," the company said in a court filing reviewed by Reuters, asking for the order to be quashed.

TikTok was launched in 2019.