‘It Encourages Pornography’: Madras High Court Asks Government to Ban Video App TikTok

Agencies
April 4, 2019

New Delhi, Apr 4: The Madras High Court on Wednesday asked the government to ban Chinese video app TikTok, saying it was "encouraging pornography".

Created by Beijing Bytedance Technology Co, TikTok allows users to create and share short videos with special effects. It has become hugely popular in rural India, home to most of the country’s 1.3 billion people.

Jokes, clips and footage related to India's thriving movie industry dominate the platform, along with memes and videos in which youngsters, some scantily clad, lip-sync and dance to popular music.

Speaking to news agency in February, the IT minister of Tamil Nadu described some of its more suggestive dance content as "unbearable", while a rightwing group close to the BJP has called for the app to be banned.

Also in February, the BJP's chief of information technology, Amit Malviya, said the party was tracking TikTok conversations and called it "a brilliant medium for creative expression".

The Madras High Court, which has been hearing a public interest litigation against the app, on Wednesday said children who were using TikTok were vulnerable to exposure to sexual predators.

"Inappropriate" content was TikTok's "dangerous aspect", the court said in an order seen by Reuters, adding that "there is a possibility of the children contacting strangers directly".

A TikTok spokesman told Reuters the company was committed to abiding by local laws and was awaiting a copy of the court’s order, following which it would take appropriate action.

"Maintaining a safe and positive in-app environment ... is our priority," he said.

India's federal IT ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As well as asking the government to ban the application and prohibit its downloads, the court said TikTok videos should not be broadcast by media.

TikTok, whose video-only interface makes it less elaborate and easier to use than platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, has been downloaded more than 240 million times in India, according to app analytics firm Sensor Tower.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Dubai, Jan 8: Iranian state television said on Wednesday that at least 80 "American terrorists" were killed in attacks involving 15 missiles Tehran launched on US targets in Iraq, adding that none of the missiles were intercepted.

State TV, citing a senior Revolutionary Guards source, also said Iran had 100 other targets in the region in its sights if Washington took any retaliatory measures. It also said US helicopters and military equipment were "severely damaged".

Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

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Agencies
July 1,2020

Sopore, Jammu And Kashmir: A three-year-old boy survived as his grandfather was killed in a terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town this morning. A CRPF jawan was also killed in the line of duty as terrorists opened fire on a patrol team.

In heart-wrenching images, the child is seen sitting on the blood-splattered body of his grandfather, a civilian caught in the crossfire. The boy was numb with fear when he was picked up by policemen, according to the police.

The Kashmir police also tweeted a photo of the child being carried to safety by a policeman.

"Jammu and Kashmir police rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets during the terrorist attack in Sopore," said the tweet by the Kashmir Zone Police.

The child was travelling in a Maruti car with his grandfather from Srinagar to Handwara when it was hit by a spray of bullets in Sopore town, which is in Baramulla district about 50 km from Srinagar.

The police said terrorists hiding in a mosque fired indiscriminately at the patrol team as it was getting off a bus. The CRPF troops retaliated but the terrorists managed to escape.

According to the CRPF, the grandfather stopped the car and got out to run to a safe spot but was shot dead in the firing by terrorists. The boy was later rescued by a policeman standing nearby.

Last week, a six-year-old boy was killed during a terror attack on the CRPF in Anantnag.

Little Nihaan Bhat was sleeping in a parked car when he was hit by a bullet. Police say the terrorist was on a bike and opened fire from a pistol on a CRPF patrol. One jawan was killed. The child's killing drew widespread anger and condemnation.

The terrorist believed to be involved in the Anantnag attack escaped yesterday after an encounter with security forces. Police said two other terrorists who were hiding with him at a village were killed.

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News Network
March 10,2020

Tehran, Mar 10: Twenty-seven people have died from methanol poisoning in Iran after rumours that drinking alcohol can help cure the novel coronavirus infection, state news agency IRNA reported on Monday. The outbreak of the virus in Islamic republic is one of the deadliest outside of China, where the disease originated.

Twenty have died in the southwestern province of Khuzestan and seven in the northern region of Alborz after consuming bootleg alcohol, IRNA said.

Drinking alcohol is banned in Iran for everyone except some non-Muslim religious minorities. Local media regularly report on lethal cases of poisoning caused by bootleg liquor.

A spokesman for Jundishapur medical university in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan, said 218 people had been hospitalised there after being poisoned.

The poisonings were caused by "rumours that drinking alcohol can be effective in treating coronavirus," Ali Ehsanpour said.

The deputy prosecutor of Alborz, Mohammad Aghayari, told IRNA the dead had drunk methanol after being "misled by content online, thinking they were fighting coronavirus and curing it." If ingested in large quantities, methanol can cause blindness, liver damage and death.

Iran has been scrambling to contain the spread of the COVID-19 illness which has hit all of the country's 31 provinces, killing 237 people and infecting 7,161.

According to IRNA, 16 out of 69 confirmed cases have died of coronavirus infection in Khuzestan as of Sunday.

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