Sindh High Court orders ban on TikTok mobile app

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered on Monday the authorities concerned to impose a ban on the popular short-video sharing app TikTok, ARY News reported.

A Sindh High Court (SHC) bench called for a ban to be imposed on the app from today. The bench has directed Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to immediately block the TikTok application in the country.

The court issued the directives while hearing a petition against the upload of immoral content on the video-sharing app TikTok.

The SHC also issued notices to Attorney General, PTA, and sought replies from authorities on a petition against immoral content on TikTok within 10 days.

On March 12, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had ordered a ban on the short video sharing entertainment app.

Also Read: Court wants objectionable videos blocked on TikTok

The court directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block the app “until and unless some mechanism is devised to filter the material which is immoral and indecent and goes against our norms and ethics.”

On June 22, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told PHC that the authority has removed 9.8 million videos on TikTok having immoral content besides also blocking 720,000 accounts uploading such content.

Sharing the details with the Peshawar High Court (PHC) bench headed by Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan in a case pertaining to the removal of immoral content from TikTok, the director [technical] of the authority said that after their actions, the TikTok has appointed a focal person for Pakistan for the first time.

It was further conveyed that several countries have also been approached during the process for the removal of obscene content before being uploaded on the platform.

Chief Justice of the PHC Qaiser Rashid Khan directed the PTA to continue action against the video-sharing app and remarked that they do not want to shut down the platform.