The Indian government has ordered Google and Apple to take down the Chinese-owned Tiktok video app after a court expressed concerns over the spread of pornographic material.
Tiktok has already been banned in neighbouring Bangladesh and hit with a large fine in the United States for illegally collecting information from children.
The app, which claims to have 500 million users worldwide including more than 120 million in India, has been fighting the effort to shut it down after a high court in Chennai called for the ban on 3 April.
Industry sources told AFP that the information technology ministry had now sent out an order to Google and Apple to remove the app from their online stores. Neither of the US companies would comment. Reuters reported that Google had complied with the order.
The app was still available on Apple’s platforms late on Tuesday, but was no longer available on Google’s Play store in India.
The app – which allows users to make and share short videos – can still be used by those who have already downloaded it on their smartphones.
India’s supreme court, which on Monday rejected a Tiktok appeal to suspend the order, is to hear the case again on 22 April.
“We have faith in the Indian judicial system and we are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India,” Tiktok said in a statement Tuesday.