India Bans Social Video App TikTok for ‘Encouraging Pornography’

It is no secret that social media is conflicted about adult content. From Tumblr to Instagram, platforms’ handling of sexual media may be a response to app store policies, but it is also a direct attack on free speech — something these social media companies once vehemently defended.

Case in point: Tumblr’s founder David Karp stated “[W]e’ve taken a pretty hard line on freedom of speech, supporting our users, creation, whatever that looks like, and it’s just not something that we want to police,” back in 2013 during a spot on “The Colbert Show.” BusinessInsider’s sum up of Karp’s appearance claimed that, because of Tumblr’s “opt in” content model, “advertisers don’t really need to worry too much about porn on Tumblr.”

What a difference five years can make, and the war wages on.

In India, the Chinese video app TikTok has emerged as the latest battleground in this fight. TikTok allows users to create and share short videos with special effects and, according to Reuters, has become hugely popular in rural India, which is home to most of the country’s 1.3 billion people. Earlier this month, however, the Madras High Court asked the Indian federal government to ban the app, suggesting it was “encouraging pornography.”

TikTok was the only app singled out in the ban. Unlike other apps, which allows content only to be initially shared with a relatively small subset of users that are granted permission by the content’s sharer, TikTok allows users to make short videos that other users can “react” to with their own videos. This level of interactivity creates a conversation where content can be shared quicker than other social apps.

This means that filtering with TikTok is more difficult than with apps like Instagram. An example of this is an in-app promotion called the “1 Million Audition.” The “audition” calls for users to show “amazing talents” for a chance to win $500 and an iPhone 10. What these “talents” may be, however, is open, leading those with an exhibitionist streak the freedom to fill in the blank.

“The company is organising big marketing events where they audition people. They are given lucrative money-making opportunities. In rural India, where opportunities are limited, this is becoming a good substitute,” Kazim Rizvi, the founding director of the research think tank The Dialogue told BusinessToday.

“People like to see more scandalous content, it is just human nature,” Rizvi continued, suggesting that a user may offer sexualized content to get views and likes, even though children may have open access to such posts. This type of incentivization without an effective filter opens the doors to porn, Rizvi argued.

“Other social media (platforms) pro-actively filter out content that violate their community guidelines,” Shweta Mohandas, policy officer at the Centre for Internet and Society of India, told Quartz. “The fact that TikTok’s community guidelines’ reporting mechanism is based on user reports could be a reason why the porn problem has become more prevalent.”

On April 17, the Apple and Google app stores removed TikTok in response to the state court’s order. While new users could not download the app in India, existing users would still have access. On April 25, the ban was overturned. Arguing that the app has the capability to ban pornographic content, TikTok’s owner ByteDance promised to do better.

“We are glad about this decision and we believe it is also greatly welcomed by our thriving community in India, who use TikTok as a platform to showcase their creativity,” ByteDance’s statement to TechCrunch reads.

The statement continued: “We are grateful for the opportunity to continue serving our users better. While we’re pleased that our efforts to fight against misuse of the platform has been recognised, the work is never ‘done’ on our end. We are committed to continuously enhancing our safety features as a testament to our ongoing commitment to our users in India.”

While viewing adult content in India is legal, the selling, producing and distribution of said content is not. Despite this, India is one of the world’s largest consumer of pornographic material. This apparent contradiction may be due to the conservative nature of the country, as well as social taboos and legal challenges. Further, though softcore porn is popular in the country, public conversations about porn and sexuality being effectively non-existent.

Image by Roney John via Pexels.