Short-video streaming app TikTok said its latest transparency report showed it had deleted about 37.7 million videos in India before it was banned in the country.
The company said in the report Tuesday it had removed more than 100 million videos worldwide throughout the first half of 2020.
TikTok said it was doing all it could to prevent the spread of unwanted and illegal content even before India banned the app after tensions escalated between India and China. The company, which is owned by China technology company ByteDance, said around a third of the videos it deleted were uploaded by India users.
TikTok said more videos uploaded by India users were deleted by the company than from any other region or market. Video from the U.S. had the second most deletions - with nearly 10 million removed. In its report, TikTok said roughly 31% of the videos it had taken down contained "adult nudity and sexual activity" while 22% had content with "minor safety" issues.
Last year, the app was temporarily suspended in India for around a month after a court found that it was exposing children to sexual predators and cyberbullying. The same court reversed its decision following an appeal.
According to the company, it now relies on computers and advanced software to automatically remove content that violates its terms and conditions. It was forced to do so because deleting content manually became difficult as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
India remains TikTok's largest market so the decision to ban it there was a big blow. India regulators accused the app of being a threat to its "sovereignty and integrity." The ban on TikTok and dozens of other China apps followed a public demand to boycott China products following a deadly border clash between troops from both countries.
Tiktok has denied accusations it was a threat to India's national security. The company's head of India operations, Nikhil Gandhi, said in a blog post that TikTok was firm in its commitment to ensure the safety of users and their personal data.
"We have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government nor have we used such data in any manner that would compromise the integrity of India," Gandhi said.
