At 107, TikTok got most takedown requests from India in 2019, shows company transparency report

Short video platform TikTok received the most number of takedown requests from India in 2019, it said in a transparency report.

These include requests to take down content deemed to be in violation of local laws, or to provide information related to accounts under certain defined circumstances, such as to assist in a criminal investigation or emergency request. Requests were also received from copyright owners looking to protect their intellectual property.

According to the report, India made a total of 107 requests and TikTok provided some information in 47% of those requests.

Government requests to remove or restrict content stood at 11, the highest number of requests made by any government.

“We take any request from government bodies extremely seriously and closely review each such request to determine whether, for example, the request adheres to the required legal process or (whether) the content violates a local law. TikTok is committed to assisting law enforcement in appropriate circumstances while respecting the privacy and rights of our users,” the company said.

According to the numbers shared by the company with TechCircle, “TikTok has over 200 million users and 120 million monthly active users (in India)” and it considers India one of its strongest markets -- a market it has barely been in for two years. 

In August 2019, ByteDance-owned TikTok had asked social networking and regional content platform ShareChat to remove videos uploaded by its users. ShareChat abided by the notice and removed the contents from its platform.  

TikTok came under fire for hosting obscene content and was temporarily banned by the Madras High Court in April 2019. The decision was reversed within a week of the central government directing Google and Apple to prevent the download of the app from their app stores.