Tik Tok, Round The Clock

Tik tok is a mobile application, which emerged in the Chinese market in 2016 and was launched overseas exactly one year later. A myriad of music tracks and famous dialoguescan be used formaking short video clips. BYTEDANCE, the company owning tik tok bought Musical.ly in November 2017. Musical.lywas another application which witnessed a crazy number of downloads on the app store. A mammothrange of $800 Million- $1 Billion is estimated to be the price paid by the Bytedance for purchasing Musical.ly. The company merged tik tok and musical.ly into a single application under the name of ‘Tik Tok’. However, China uses a different version of the application under the name of Doyuin.

Tik Tok has been a hit in India with over millions of users. It has managed to create a virtual world in itself with millions of youngsters sharinglip synced video clips, memes, musicvideos. It is currently available in 154 countries. It is available in more than 75 languages.42% of all the revenue is generated by the U.S.

Tik Tok platform has been a shot to fame for the millenial generation. Famous artists like Awez Darbar and NagmaMirajkar have become well known faces on the app, owing to millions of followers. The users get paid, based on parameters likethe number of followers, content quality, influence and many more. It has become an addiction lately, among the youngsters which has now started to bother parents as well as the administrative authorities.

Tik tok recently garneredmore of media attention as Madras High Court imposed a ban on the use of the app. The ban was imposed to safeguard the children from some of the obscene and inappropriate content on the app. Various other parties espoused the ban as it could expose the children to being more vulnerable.It isn’t the first time the app has been criticised for putting personalinformation and identities of children as small as 9 years, at risk. Hong Kong and Indonesia also sustain the risks of children falling prey to paedophiles.

The initial round of trouble began in Tamil Nadu where the information technology minister propmpted centre’s help to seek a ban in Feb 2019. After a few daysa college student died as his motorcycle rammed into a truck while making a tik tok video.Madras High Court demanded a ban from the centre. Supreme court ordered for a temporary ban until 24^th of this month as the case was still being heard in the High court. Madras High Court has lifted the ban under the condition of no propagation of obscene and sleazy display on content. And it also warned that any violation of theguidelines or conditions mentionedwould be regarded as a contempt of court.

The move plays a vital role as it may be a warning to various other platforms in the market these platforms and company could be scrutinized for what they offer to the youth and how much of a threat it poses.