TikTok Is Now Legal As Ban Lifted By Madras High Court: 3 Reasons Why This Happened

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Popular short-video app TikTok is now legal, again. Madras High Court has lifted the ban placed on TikTok, and have said that everyone can now download the app, and use it.

Earlier this month, TikTok was banned by Madras High court, as they said that the app is polluting the minds of the youth with obscene content.

What exactly happened in between? Why has the ban been lifted?

Keep reading to find out more!

Madras High Court: TikTok Ban Is Lifted

Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has lifted the ban on TikTok. The verdict was announced by the Bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar.

TikTok was represented by Senior Advocate Isaac Mohanlal while there was an Amicus Curiae appointed as well for an impartial hearing.

Madras High Court was ordered by the Supreme Court to announce a verdict soon on the TikTok ban, and April 24th was the deadline. In case Madras HC had failed to announce the verdict, then the ban would have been automatically lifted.

There was more than 12 crore users of Tiktok in India, and the pressure was building up on the Madras High Court.

At last, TikTok and free speech won.

What Made Madras High Court Lift The Ban?

The hearing went on for whole day today, and the Bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar were presented with arguments and counter-arguments.

However, there are three primary arguments, which resulted in the ban being lifted by Madras High Court:

Reason #1: Senior Advocate Isaac Mohanlal informed the Court that TikTok has an advanced technology, which can figure out if the content being uploaded is obscene or not. This information was shared via an affidavit by TikTok as well.

Reason #2: Earlier, TikTok had filed an affidavit to inform the court that all the objections mentioned by the Madras Court during their April 3rd verdict on the ban has been resolved by them.

Reason #3: Amicus Curiae, who was Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, informed the Court that free speech of an individual is protected as per Article 19 (1) of the Constitution. Hence, he focussed on the Intermediary Guidelines under the Information Technology Act, and made logical arguments that anything which is statutorily permissible cannot become judicially impermissible. Besides, the ban will impact 12 crore users as well.

Google Playstore and Apple app store will soon allow TikTok downloads in India.

We will keep you updated, as we receive more information.