PTA bans TikTok over complaints against ‘immoral content’
TikTok Banned: Pakistan telecomunication authority (PTA) banned the video sharing app “TikTok” on Friday.
Because they failed to filter out “immoral and indecent” content, the country’s telecommunication authority said in a statement.
They blocked the app after receiving a “number of complaints from different segments of the society”, the regulatory body said in a press statement on Friday.
Details of TikTok ban
The PTA’s statement that confirmed the ban was;
“In view of number of complaints from different segments of the society against immoral and indecent content on the video sharing application TikTok,”
They further added;
“Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued instructions for blocking of the application,”
The statement continued stating;
“However, the application failed to fully comply with the instructions, therefore, directions were issued for blocking of application in the country,”
The PTA said TikTok has been informed that the regulator is open to engagement.
They will review its decision subject to a satisfactory mechanism by TikTok to moderate unlawful content.
TikTok has not released a comment on PTA’s announcement so far.
Netizens Reaction
People flipped out upon hearing this news, as many started to earn from this platform as well.
Many influential people took part in this ongoing debate of unbanning TikTok.
The move was criticised by Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari.
He tweeted saying “immoral content is not on TikTok, it’s embedded in our sexist society”.
Immoral content is not on tiktok, it’s embedded in our sexist society where women cannot wear yoga pants on tv or drive at night, & children are picked up & assaulted. Have deteriorated so much. Look what’s happening in madrassas, in open public spaces- the problem is NOT tiktok.
— Bakhtawar B-Zardari (@BakhtawarBZ) October 9, 2020
People in support?
Arslan Khalid, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s focal person on digital media, supported the move.
He said stringent measures were necessary as the platforms were not understanding the severity of the situation.
The recent exploitation of female tick tockers, the objectification & sexualization of young girls on tik tok was causing huge pain to the parents & was proving detrimental for our society .Tik Tok is being given final warning to work on their filters stopping obscene content pic.twitter.com/bjAHPZCk2J
— Dr Arslan Khalid (@arslankhalid_m) July 20, 2020
In the tweet he stated;
“The recent exploitation of female TikTokers, the objectification and sexualisation of young girls on TikTok,”
He further stated;
“was causing huge pain to the parents & was proving detrimental for our society,”
According to TikTok, Pakistan is among the top five markets where the largest volume of videos was removed over violations of its community guidelines.
About one-third of the videos were from India (where the Chinese app is now banned), followed by the United States and Pakistan where it has removed over 3m videos for violating its community guidelines.
