According to the instructions of Court, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has agreed to establish a mechanism with TikTok to ensure that all content uploaded on the platform is lawful and safe for society.
In light of relevant provisions of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016, PTA had blocked access to [the] TikTok app and website in the country,” the authority said in a brief statement.
Chinese Social app was banned in Pakistan in October 2020 for the first time. The decision was taken over multiple complaints regarding indecent and immoral content according to the PTA. But the ban was lifted right after 10 days when the company assured the telecom regulator it would block accounts “spreading obscenity”.
But again because of violation of PTA rules, Peshawar High Court had banned the Chinese application that was later lifted in April 2021.
Tiktok was banned in the country on the directives of courts, for uploading objectionable (sexual, abusive) content which is not acceptable in an Islamic state.
Helena Lersch head of public Policy tiktok, met chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) retired Maj Gen Amir Azeem Bajwa at the PTA headquarters on Wednesday to discuss the instructions.
TikTok has persuaded a long-term meaningful engagement with the regulator in relation to content moderation in line with local laws and societal norms. Initiative taken by TikTok for ensuring provision of safe, productive, informative and legitimate content to Pakistani users highlighted by Ms Lersch.
It was informed to PTA that TikTok is the world’s leading short-form video platform and it followed the most stringent guidelines. As many as 81.5 million videos were removed globally during the quarter of April to June In order to regularise content of this app.
This included removal of 9.85 million videos that were uploaded from Pakistan, which is also the second highest in terms of numbers in the world. The TikTok team presented a copy of its Global Community Guidelines Enforcement Report for the quarter of April – June 2021.
In a post from its Twitter handle, the telecommunication authority said that “PTA has restored the services of TikTok on assurances of the Platform to control immoral/indecent content”. In another tweet PTA said “PTA will continue to monitor the platform in order to ensure that unlawful content contrary to Pakistan’s law and societal values is not disseminated”.
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