Pakistan has banned the popular video-sharing app, TikTok for the second time. Media regulator, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) made the decision after the Peshawar court’s order over obscene content on the platform. PTA has issued orders for the service providers to immediately block access to the app. Many entities have been disappointed with the TikTok ban in Pakistan because it reflected the court’s lack of technological understanding.
The court was concerned that the content on TikTok is against the norms and culture of Pakistan. However, it failed to realize that if such content was being uploaded on TikTok, then the Pakistani norms are culture were already questionable.
TikTok Ban In Pakistan Will Not Make Any Difference
Peshawar High Court and PTA are collectively facing criticism for this abrupt decision on the basis of immoral content. A popular public opinion after the news of the TikTok ban in Pakistan was that the judicial system of Pakistan is unaware of the matters involving Information Technology. After the previous ban, the authorities faced the same criticism that they were unable to comprehend.
The actions by authorities point at a possible crackdown on IT technologies that can benefit common people. This has made several people angry who discussed Pakistan’s hypocrisy in looking like a technically sound country to the international community. TikTok ban in Pakistan highly suggests that the authorities think the app is only for sharing inappropriate content.
According to the reports, the court imposed the TikTok ban in Pakistan by alleging that the company failed to remove vile posts from its platform. Pakistan unbanned TikTok on the condition that the company would remove such posts from the app.
Did TikTok Take Any Action Against Violating Content?
Despite what the Peshawar High Court claimed, the records suggested otherwise. TikTok released data on the number of videos they have removed according to country. It showed that TikTok removed more than 8.2 million videos, which was the second-highest number after 11.7 million in the US. The company further removed 14,263 videos upon the government’s request according to some advocates of internet policy.
TikTok ban in Pakistan does not make sense to many as the company is proactively taking action against the content that violates its community guidelines.
Statement From The Minister For Science And Technology
Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry announced to appeal against this decision by the Peshawar Court. He acknowledged that this was an ill-informed decision that could hurt a lot of Pakistani people. He urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to closely work with the Ministry of Science and Technology in order to develop an understanding of the video-sharing platform and other beneficial applications.
