Today in Supreme Court: Does selective ban of Tik Tok App is violation of Article 14? Amaresh Patel LAW CRITIQUE Mon, Apr 22, 2019, at ,09:15 AM The world fastest growing, 15 sec video making app, Tik Tok, with 0.5 billion users around the world, of which 119 million are of India itself, banned on 18 August 2019 by I &T Ministry after Madras High Court order on 3 April 2019. The world’s most valuable startup, raised to $ 75 billion in 2018, faces allegation for allowing ‘pronographic’ and ‘sleazy’ content to propagate, especially among its younger audience. In an application filed by TikTok through PLR Chambers & Co., it has contended that the removal of app from Google, Apple App Stores, and imposing complete ban, violates the fundamental right to free speech and expression, the right to livelihood to numerous citizens and right to equality granted under article 19 (1) (a), 21 and 14 respectively. Trio is the basic structure of the constitution of India, and no one is allowed under law to take arbitrary decision on it without due consideration. That, TikTok is only an intermediary app which enables users to upload content and not the content developer. Hence, it is exempted under section 79 of the IT Act which reads as under; “Section 79. INTERMEDIARIES NOT TO BE LIABLE IN CERTAIN CASES (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force but subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3), an intermediary shall not be liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hasted by him. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall apply if— (a) the function of the intermediary is limited to providing access to a communication system over which information made available by third parties is transmitted or temporarily stored or hasted; or (b) the intermediary does not— (i) initiate the transmission, (ii) select the receiver of the transmission, and (iii) select or modify the information contained in the transmission; (c) the intermediary observes due diligence while discharging his duties under this Act and also observes such other guidelines as the Central Government may prescribe in this behalf. (3) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not apply if— (a) the intermediary has conspired or abetted or aided or induced, whether by threats or promise or othorise in the commission of the unlawful act; (b) upon receiving actual knowledge, or on being notified by the appropriate Government or its agency that any information, data or communication link residing in or connected to a computer resource controlled by the intermediary is being used to commit the unlawful act, the intermediary fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to that material on that resource without vitiating the evidence in any manner. Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, the expression “third party information” means any information dealt with by an intermediary in his capacity as an intermediary.” Also, action against TikTok is “selective”, as functioning of TikTok is similar to that of FaceBook and YouTube. They are intermediary app and promotes users to upload content on their platform as TikTok. Also, problem faced by TikTok are exactly the same as that of FaceBook, YouTube or any similar platform. And therefore, a complete ban only on TikTok is violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It has therefore, prayed for Status Quo as it existed prior to the order of Madras High Court of 3rd April 2019 and order digital distribution platform such as Google and Apple App Store to make the app available on their respective platform.