India revokes TikTok ban; Now available in Play Store and App Store with more safety features

TikTok
TikTok logo YouTube grab

TikTok, short-video application, has returned to App store and Play Store with more security features after getting a ban in India over obscene content. Madras High Court has lifted a stay on downloads of the popular Chinese app which is owned by the Chinese tech giant, Byte Dance Technology Co.

This time, the social media app is more focused on online safety and the safety of the user in general. The app has also announced that it will launch a second in-app quiz in India to provide account safety tips to users. First safety quiz was launched on 5 February while celebrating Safer Internet Day and the company started a #SafeHumSafeInternet campaign. TikTok claims that the campaign was successful and almost 5 million ​users were interested in knowing about their safety IQ.

TikTok has also added some new features like a revamped notification tab, new notification controls, and a device management tool to get rid of hackers. In March, ​TikTok also ​launched the localized Safety Center ​in India, which helps users to make their account safe and over a range of topics.

TikTok has released a press note and said to the audience, "TikTok is committed to helping make its millions of users feel safe and comfortable within the community, which is why it is continuously enhancing and updating its policies, tools, and resources to promote a positive and safe app environment."

As per the report published by Reuters, Byte Dance was facing a loss of $500,000 per day due to the ban of TikTok in India and had put more than 250 jobs at risk. According to Sensor Tower, TikTok has been downloaded by nearly 300 million users so far in India, while it more than 1 billion downloads globally and it is available in 150 markets across the globe through the App Store and Google Play.

Earlier this month, a court in Tamil Nadu had asked the government to ban TikTok over the issue of encouraging pornography and made child users vulnerable to sexual predators. After that, the government has sent a letter to Apple and Google for removal of the short-video application.

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