![The logo of the video sharing app TikTok.[Photo: IC]](http://img3.zhytuku.meldingcloud.com/images/zhycms_chinaplus/20190417/9f98bdaf-599e-472b-aae6-8ed3e5e2a3d6.jpg?x-oss-process=image/resize,w_650)
Apple and Google have removed the video sharing app TikTok from their app stores in India after the Madras High Court asked the national government to ban the app on the grounds that it is used to distribute pornography.
Tiktok is the international version of Douyin, an app developed by the Chinese company ByteDance. Tiktok has 120 million users in India and is hugely popular with teenagers.
The Madras High Court found that the app contained pornographic content and put its young users at risk of abuse by sexual predators. The court issued an order for the Tiktok app to be banned. On Tuesday the court rejected an appeal by the company against the ban.
According to local media, India’s information technology ministry sent an order to Google and Apple asking them to remove the app from their stores based on the preliminary ruling by the court. On Wednesday, users were unable to download the app from Google or Apple but users who had installed the app before the ban went into force were still able to access the service.
The case against ByteDance is due to be back in court on April 22.
