TikTok is no longer banned in India

Indian lawmakers said TikTok was encouraging the spread of explicit content and “cultural degradation” among youth, and then they successfully banned the short video app — but only for a week or so, because the TikTok ban has now been lifted. That’s according to reports from Reuters, TechCrunch, CNN Business, and others.

Technically, TikTok’s existing 120 million active monthly users weren’t affected by the ban, because India’s court order only kept new customers from downloading the app from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. But that didn’t stop TikTok developer ByteDance from claiming it was suffering up to $500,000 in financial losses each day the ban stayed in effect, according to a court filing spotted by Reuters yesterday.

It’s not clear which of TikTok’s arguments swayed the court, but Bar and Bench reports that its lawyers argued the app has tech to keep nude videos from being uploaded, among other things.

TechCrunch has a full statement from ByteDance on the victory today:

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. 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.