(Image source from: The Jakarta Post)

Days after banning the TikTok app citing exposure of troubling content, including pornography to children, the Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench on Wednesday lifted the ban on video mobile application TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, subject to certain conditions.

Subject to conditions that pornographic videos will not be uploaded on the application, failing which contempt of court proceedings would begin, the bench, deciding the case filed by advocate Muthukumar, vacated its interim order banning the app.

"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," TikTok said in a statement.

Early this month the high court, on a petition filed by the advocate, issued an interim order to the Central government banning downloading of the app in India and restricted the media from telecasting videos taken using the app.

The high court had passed an interim order banning the app citing inappropriate and pornographic content.

"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 recognized, the work is never 'done' on our end," TikTok added.

Bytedance, which creates social and news-reading apps, has most of its users and sales in China. But TikTok has exploded in popularity elsewhere, giving Bytedance more global reach than any other Chinese tech company. Investors have valued the closely held company at $75 billion. The startup has made a considerable push in India, where a vast majority of consumers use phones running Google’s Android software.

By Sowmya Sangam