Umamageswari Maruthappan
A Pakistan High Court directed the authorities to ban the social media app, Tik Tok over prevalence of “immoral content”.
A Bench of the Peshawar High Court headed by Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan passesd this order while hearing a plea seeking a ban on Tik Tok. “Tiktok videos are spreading obscenity, it [the app] should be shut down immediately,” the Judge remarked.
The Bench also interrogated on the after-effects of such a ban to which the Director General (DG) of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) replied that the ban would surely have an impact on people.
He further informed that initially the government approached the authorities of TikTok over the alleged contents, however, they haven’t received any positive response from the other side.
After hearing the DG’s submissions, the Judge noted, “TikTok will be shut down till officials comply with your request and cooperate with you to stop immoral content on the app.”
In October 2020, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had ordered a ban on TikTok, however, the ban was lifted within few days after the Chinese company gave assurance that it would “block all accounts repeatedly involved in spreading obscenity and immorality.” This is notably the second time that the Government has decided to banned the app.