Popular, video-sharing application TikTok has blocked up to 8 million objectionable videos and blocked 400,000 accounts for uploading these in the country, informed PTA to Peshawar High Court in the latest hearing.
Counsel for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Jehanzeb Mehsud and its director technical told Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Syed Arshad Ali that the application had raised the moderator from 116 to 476 in the country to monitor the objectionable and indecent content on the platform.
Tiktok Blocks ⛔ 8 Million obscene videos, thousands of Accounts in Pakistan 🇵🇰. More Details : https://t.co/baGdcSmF2m pic.twitter.com/IMQXAtDtSY
— DEKHLO (@DekhloPK) May 27, 2021
In Jul-Dec 2020, TikTok actively removed 8.2 million videos in Pakistan, 2nd highest number in the world.
TikTok also removed/restricted 14,263 videos on Pakistan government’s request, HIGHEST # in the world.
What more censorship do courts & government want? pic.twitter.com/1eoYrBYhDV
— Usama Khilji (@UsamaKhilji) March 11, 2021
The bench said that the court did not want to ban the application from Pakistan but it just want the mechanism to be placed to control the objectionable and obscene content shared on the application.
Read more: TikTok: Newest edition to Pakistan’s media banning spree
The court was listening to the joint petition filed by the 40 residents of Peshawar who asked the court to issue directives to the Federal Investigative Agency and PTA to restrict the activities of TikTok to the point it does not violate the Islamic code of life.
The PTA director technology informed the court that it is impossible to take down the video before it is being uploaded on the platform adding that other countries also do not have this technology. Court argued that there is a visible difference between the culture of Pakistan and other countries hence they don’t have the need to invent such a mechanism, and even if they have, they would not inform about the mechanism to Pakistan.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority BLOCKED 8 million objectionable videos and 400000 accounts for uploading those videos on Tiktok.
— Mohammad Ali Babakhel (@alibabakhel) May 26, 2021
Court has asked PTA to submit another detailed report on progress by June 22. The bench remarked that it would appreciate if TikTok is only used for entertainment purposes as it won’t allow any un-Islamic and indecent videos to be shared on the platform.
In April, Peshawar High Court (PHC) had lifted the ban on the social media application, TikTok but directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to regulate the content and remove any objectionable content from the video-sharing application.
Read more: “Pornography”: Pakistan issues “final warning” to TikTok
The court also asked PTA to ensure no objectionable content is uploaded on the application. The court also directed PTA Director General Tariq Gandapur to submit a detailed report in the hearing scheduled for May 25.