Pakistan banned TikTok again over lack of cooperation Says PTA
By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority banned TikTok for the fourth time over lack of cooperation, the authority’s lawyer told the Islamabad High Court Friday.
The video-sharing app was banned by the country for the fourth time on July 21.
The Islamabad High Court took notice of the ban and summoned a reply from the IT secretary on it.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah expressed his anger with PTA for banning the app and ordered consultation with the federal government to make rules for the telecommunication authority.
The judge asked Deputy Attorney General Munawwar Duggal, the PTA’s lawyer, why has TikTok been banned again. Does the PTA want to isolate Pakistan from the outside world? You should close Google too then. This is the 21st century and people earn their livelihood through social media. “If such videos are also uploaded on YouTube, will you also close YouTube?”
What other option does the government have? The judge asked. “Are you shutting down TikTok completely? Will you also ban other social media apps on similar grounds?”
He asked which other countries have banned TikTok and what was the reason behind it?
Duggal said that India and Indonesia have banned it, adding that he doesn’t know if more countries have banned it or not.
India blocked it because it is being operated by a Chinese company, the judge said. “Are you supporting India?”
The chief justice said that PTA needs to change its mindset, adding that it needs to focus on the future. “We are living in a digital age.”
The PTA should not have imposed the ban without consulting the federal government first, the court added.
TikTok ban
On July 21, the PTA blocked access to TikTok under provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016. This was the fourth time the app has been banned in the country.
“The action was taken due to the continuous presence of inappropriate content on the platform and its failure to take such content down,” the PTA said in a press statement.
First ban: October 9, 2020
The video-sharing app was first blocked in Pakistan on October 9, 2020, over its “obscene and immoral” content. The PTA said it had issued a final notice to the app and gave considerable time to respond and develop and an effective mechanism for ‘proactive moderation of unlawful online content.’ TikTok has failed to fully comply with the PTA’s instructions, a press release sent by the authority reads.
The ban was, however, reversed after 10 days. The PTA spokesperson said the TikTok management has assured the authority that it will block all accounts repeatedly involved in spreading obscenity and immorality and moderate content in accordance with local laws. The authority has not announced whether the app will be unblocked immediately.
The authority had said at the time of the ban that the decision was made after it received complaints ‘against immoral/indecent content’ on the app. “In view of the presence of vulgar, indecent/immoral content on the platform and its negative effects on the society, the PTA has been continuously asserting TikTok to prevent its platform from disseminating the unlawful content,” it said, adding that the app didn’t take concrete steps for blocking and removal of unlawful content.
Second ban: March 11, 2021
The PTA blocked TikTok for the second time on the high court’s orders on March 11.
“In respectful compliance to the orders of the Peshawar High Court, PTA has issued directions to service providers to immediately block access to the TikTok App,” the PTA said in a Twitter post.
The order to block the app was issued by the PHC over the presence of “immoral content” on the platform. In his short order, PHC Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan told the authorities that the ban should not be revoked till objectionable content is removed.
A man filed a petition in the high court on September 8, 2020. He said that he approached the court after the PTA and other institutions failed to take notice of the “immoral and objectionable” content on the app.
The ban was reversed after three weeks.
Third ban: June 28, 2021
The app was blocked for the third time on orders of the Sindh High Court on June 28 over “immoral” and “objectionable” content. The ban was reversed after four days after PTA assured the content will be monitored.
TikTok has removed over six million videos in Pakistan due to nude and sexual content, from January till March this year, it announced.
The exact number of videos removed from January till March was 6,495,992. Pakistan is second on the list behind the US where 8,540,088 videos were removed.
