TikTok faced backlash in deeply conservative Islamic country (File)
Islamabad:
Pakistan issued a final warning to TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media app, to crack down on what it called “immoral, obscene and vulgar” content on the video-sharing platform.
TikTok has become a worldwide sensation with its 15-60 second video clips and is extremely popular among young Pakistanis, with some users racking up millions of subscribers.
But the app has faced a backlash in the deeply conservative Islamic country, with critics blaming it for spreading nudity and pornography.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced that it was blocking another app, Bigo, and had received a number of complaints about TikTok for its “extremely negative effects on society and young people in particular”.
In a statement Monday evening, he said he had already issued notices to the company asking him to moderate the content, before issuing a final warning ordering that filters be put in place to end “obscenity, vulgarity and immorality “.
Arslan Khalid, a digital media adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan, welcomed the decision and claimed that “the exploitation, objectification and sexualization of young girls on TikTok” caused pain for parents.
A spokesperson for TikTok told AFP that the platform removed more than 3.7 million videos that violated standards in Pakistan between July 1 and December 31 of last year.
“We are committed to further strengthening our safeguards to keep our users safe, while also stepping up our dialogue with authorities to explain our policies and demonstrate our commitment to user safety,” said the representative from TikTok.
Nighat Dad, a lawyer who offers digital security training to women, told AFP that complaints of “obscenity” were vague and often aimed at women, praising the app for allowing people to speak out in a way that they often cannot in public.
The telecommunications authority also announced that it is blocking the less popular Singapore-based live streaming app Bigo Live on its content.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese ByteDance, has faced growing controversy over how it collects and uses data, though it has repeatedly denied sharing user information with Chinese authorities.
India has banned the app, along with dozens of other Chinese mobile platforms, over national security and privacy concerns, with the United States considering a similar move.
In Pakistan – a close ally of China – no confidentiality issues were raised.
The app was also banned by Bangladesh last year as part of the crackdown on pornography, while Indonesia briefly blocked access on blasphemy grounds.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
