KOLKATA: A surgical strike in the digital world has taken down a Chinese asset, but millions of netizens are far from euphoric. On Thursday, “How to download

after the ban” was the most trending Google search.

Apple and Google have removed TikTok, a Chinese-made short video smartphone app popular among young adults, from

and Play Store after the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court banned it and the Supreme Court refused to stay the order. The IT department then requested the tech giants to remove the app from their stores.

TikTok allows users to create short videos with various special effects like background music, sounds and graphics and share it on social media. But many felt that it was aiding pornography and exposing children to sexually predatory behaviour.

The app has not been available on Play Store and App Store since Wednesday evening, though many people could still download it through third-party platforms. However, downloading content from such unverified sources is unsafe.

Shocked TikTok fans expressed their dismay. “When pornography and other inappropriate content is available so easily, it is futile to ban an app like TikTok,” Gunjan Agarwal, a third-year student of The Bhawanipur Education Society College, said. “If an app is being used to peddle inappropriatecontent the government should regulate it and introduce a mechanism to remove such elements,” said techie Arnab Basu.

According to an international mobile app store marketing intelligence institution, TikTok was downloaded 32.3 million times in India last year, up 25 times from 2017. The number accounted for 27% of the app’s global downloads. More than 30 million people downloaded it in the first three months of 2019.

People watching TikTok videos on Metro and air-conditioned buses is a common sight in Kolkata. Tech specialists have attributed TikTok’s success to its easy-to-use nature and special effects. TikTok has also created virtual celebrities out of ordinary people.

“TiKTok has democratized content. Many people who feel they sing or act well, record and upload their videos on TikTok for millions to view them,” said Animesh Gupta, social media head of InstaFame, an IT company.

Existing TikTok users need not worry. They can continue to shoot and share videos. “It is bizarre and undemocratic. Why should some people have the privilege of using the app and others be deprived of it?” wondered social media expert Trina Majumdar.