Bombay HC: Plea seeks ban on TikTok, firm wants it dismissed

HIGHLIGHTS

• TikTok wants dismissal of PIL seeking a ban on it
• The lawyer points to the procedure for complaints on online content
• Bombay HC instructs petitioner to respond to the firm

The video-sharing app TikTok on Thursday asked the Bombay High Court to dismiss a Public Interest Litigation asking that it be banned.

The petition was filed by Heena Darvesh, who is based in Mumbai, and claims TikTok has caused a number of criminal offenses and deaths. Filed in November 2019, it says the Mumbai Police filed two cases in July 2019 against a “few [people] for posting videos on TikTok inciting violence and promoting enmity between religious groups”.

TikTok is an app whose users can create, upload or share short videos. The app was launched in 2017 by the China-based developer Bytedance.

Advocate Milind Sathe, who appeared for TikTok in court, said there was “a procedure laid down under Section 69-A of the Information Technology Act which says if a person has any grievance regarding online content then he or she can approach the nodal officer and seek for it to be removed.”

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice BP Dharmadhikari and Justice NR Borkar instructed the petitioner’s lawyer to respond to the company and posted the matter for further hearing after three weeks.