The Indian government has banned social video app TikTok, Reuters reports from an IT ministry official. The ban came at the urging of a regional court which determined that the app harbors pornographic content and allows sexual predators to prey on younger users. The developer, China-based Bytedance, is appealing the order.

Google took the app off of the Play Store in India on Tuesday. In a statement, the company said that it won't talk about its actions on individual apps, but did say that it complies with local laws. Apple subsequently took TikTok off of its App Store today.

The app features user-submitted videos centered around memetic humor and karaoke-style singing and dancing. It is especially popular not just in India, but around the world, with teenage users.

On April 3, the Madras High Court requested the federal government to ban the app. Bytedance challenged the order in the nation's Supreme Court last week on freedom of speech grounds — it said in a filing that a "very minuscule" amount of content on TikTok could be considered inappropriate. The appeal has since been sent back to the regional court, which has denied Bytedance's request for a stay on the ban. The case is scheduled to continue on April 24.

An Indian representative for TikTok said it is "optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by" its users.

App analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates TikTok was downloaded 36 million times from the Google Play Store worldwide in March. In India, it's reported to have amassed over 240 million downloads across the span of its existence up to February.

UPDATE: 2019/04/24 2:20pm PDT BY STEPHEN SCHENCK

Users in India who felt an empty place in their lives after being deprived the ability to easily share embarrassing videos of themselves can once again breathe easily, as the court has vacated its prohibition order.

This change of heart follows developer assurances that app content will be monitored to assure its appropriateness. And though the court reserves the right to reinstate the ban if those self-regulatory efforts fail, for the moment TikTok is back — and ready to operate at maximum cringe.

Via: Reuters