Pakistan high court bans TikTok temporarily for ‘spreading immorality’

The Sindh High Court ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to suspend the app until the next hearing on July 8.

The order was issued by the court on the petition by a citizen who alleged that TikTok was spreading ''immorality and obscenity in the country''.

Ali Zeb, a resident of Pakpattan in Punjab province, alleged that TikTok was promoting crime, with people using drugs and weapons and uploading videos, while the use of TikTok in educational institutions was leading to a bad environment for the students.

The petitioner said individuals are likewise making recordings of endeavors like an attempt of suicide to get views on TikTok, while the content on it was against the Islamic laws of Pakistan.

The petitioner requested that effective policy-making be carried out by partially shutting down TikTok and ordering the government to set up a mechanism to censor the content.

It was for the second time that the app has been banned in the country this year. In March, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had taken a similar action on a petition filed by several citizens.

However, the PHC, after a few weeks, had lifted the ban by asking the PTA to take measures so that no ''immoral content'' was uploaded.

Last year in October, the PTA for the first time banned TikTok after receiving complaints over indecent and immoral content but lifted the ban after 10 days.

The Chinese app has assured the PTA that it would operate as per the local laws to ensure that no “indecent content” was uploaded.

The app, owned by China's ByteDance, has been downloaded almost 39 million times in Pakistan.