By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: In a move which has shocked millions of people, mostly youth, Peshawar High Court has ordered a ban on the TikTok social media platform over alleged “obscene content”, the second time the app has been banned in less than six months.
The Peshawar High Court’s Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan made the ruling during a hearing into a petition against the platform on Thursday.
The court order clearly stated that some videos uploaded on the popular platform as being “unacceptable for Pakistani society”, and ordered Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, country’s internet regulator to ban the service until it put in place content controls deemed acceptable by the court.
“The court has asked PTA to block access to TikTok,” Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) spokesman Khurram Mehran confirmed to Gwadar Pro over telephone.
Peshawar High Court said it was ordering the ban after a private complainant said the social media app was spreading indecent content, said Jehanzeb Mehsud, a lawyer who represented the PTA.
TikTok has challenged the ruling and argued it has guidelines to monitor content.
“TikTok is built upon the foundation of creative expression, with strong safeguards in place to keep inappropriate content off the platform,” the company said in a statement given to media.
“In Pakistan we have grown our local-language moderation team. We monitor the content round the clock through our mechanisms to report and remove content in violation of our community guidelines. We look forward to continuing to serve the millions of TikTok users and creators in Pakistan who have found a home for creativity and fun,” Tik Tok representative stated following the court order.
It was second time that TikTok was banned in Pakistan.
In October last year, the PTA banned TikTok over similar allegations, saying the platform had failed to filter out “immoral and indecent” content.
Government had restored it within 10 days after the company removed the content blocking all accounts involved in spreading “obscenity and immorality.
“The telecom regulator said the social media company had agreed to moderate accounts in accordance with local laws. TikTok has been one of the most-downloaded app in Pakistan behind WhatsApp and Facebook.
TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, has become hugely popular in a short period of time, by encouraging young users to post brief videos. In Pakistan, it is one of most popular App among youngsters.
According to analytics firm Sensor Tower, there are more than 20 million users of TikTok in Pakistan. Most of the Pakistani users on the platform have follower counts in the hundreds of thousands of users.