Feature
TikTok encourages pornography so Chinese video mobile application may face ban in India
Chennai: The Madras High Court has asked the Centre to ban the Chinese video mobile application TikTok, saying it “encourages pornography” and is spoiling the future of youths and minds of children.
The court said inappropriate content was being provided by the TikTok app, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, and the government had a social responsibility to stop it.
Hearing a petition filed by an advocate, the Madurai Bench of the High Court on Wednesday also 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.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu’s Information Technology Minister M. Manikandan had said that the state would write to the Central government seeking a ban on the app in India.
In a statement to media persons, TikTok said it was committed to abiding by local laws and regulations.
“We fully comply with the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011. We are currently awaiting the official order by the High Court of Madras and once received, we will review and take appropriate action regarding this matter,” the company said.
“In order to better coordinate with the law enforcement agencies, we have appointed a Chief Nodal Officer based out of India,” TikTok added.
Chinese video mobile application TikTok may face ban in India as it encourages pornography:
With a global user base of over one billion users, TikTok has over 50 million users in India.
The app is very popular in India, especially among teenagers. In January, 43 per cent of the app’s new users were from India, compared to just 9.5 percent in January of 2018, said Sensor Tower founder Oliver Yeh in a recent blog post.
In fact, 25 per cent of TikTok’s downloads to date have come from India, for an estimated total of 250 million there. The app enables its users to shoot short videos and share it with others.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February, Swadeshi Jagran Manch co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said that TikTok is known for sharing the details of children and being an open ground for child pornography and possibly anti-national activities.
Following the allegations by SJM, ByteDance said that TikTok was committed to maintaining a safe and positive in-app environment for its users in India.
“We have robust measures to protect users against misuse, including easy reporting mechanisms that enable users and law enforcement to report content that violates our terms of use and community guidelines,” it said.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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