Google and Apple have removed Chinese internet firm Bytedance’s social media app TikTok from the Play Store and App Store following directions of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to do so, after an order by the Madras High Court on April 3 to prohibit its downloads. The popular app used by teengers for creation and sharing of short videos was available on application stores of both Google and Apple until Tuesday evening, but is no longer available for downloads on both platforms. According to an earlier report by ET MeitY’s order will help stop further downloads of the application, but people who have already downloaded it will be able to continue using it on their smartphones. The Madras High Court on Tuesday had refused to stay the ban on the app and appointed an independent counsel to the case. The Court had asked the Centre to ban the app after hearing a petition by senior advocate S Muthukumar which said that children using the app were vulnerable to exposure by sexual predators. Earlier in the week the Supreme Court’s had also refused to stay the interim ban on the app’s downloads. The company, responding in a statement on Tuesday had said that it was confident its 120 million users would continue to use the platform. It had also said that it removed over 6 million videos that violated its ‘’Terms of Use and Community Guidelines’, following a review of content generated by its users in India.However it has not commented on the removal of the app from Google and Apple stores yet.