TIKTOK APP MUST NEED PROPER REGULATION

TIKTOK MOBILE APP NEEDS TO BE MONITORED: ORISSA HC

The popular Chinese video-sharing social networking service TikTok owned by ByteDance has been embroiled in a myriad of controversies that seem like a Pandora box. In a recent ruling while adjudicating upon a bail petition the Odisha High Court observed that the popular video-sharing app TikTok requires strict regulations so as to evade its misuse among teenagers. “Tik Tok mobile app which often demonstrates a degrading culture and encourages pornography besides pedophiles and explicit disturbing content is required to be properly regulated so as to save the teens from its negative impact,” observed Justice S.K. Panigrahi while disposing of a bail petition related to a suicide case in Sambalpur.

The victim husband hailing from Sambalpur allegedly committed suicide on account of perpetual mental trauma inflicted upon him by the accused wife and the co-accused who had been the wife’s paramour prior to the marriage. Apparently, the co-accused had caused inflicted substantial mental agony to the deceased husband by sending him explicit, private and intimate TikTok videos filmed with the accused, which were also streamed on social media.

“This kind of transmitting Tik Tok videos with offensive content to harass victims are on the prowl and are gradually on the rise. Large number of people, especially the youth, both in rural and urban areas, are vulnerable to such troubling trends. Such act is executed smartly through digital platforms and gets integrated with the social media,” observed the court. It can be inferred that TikTok app perpetuates and endorses a degrading culture and also encourages pornography and circulation of explicit contents. Therefore, there lies an onus on the government to impose fair and stringent regulations and penalties on the companies developing and proliferating such applications which are detrimental to public morality and decency.