TikTok, an app owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance Ltd has close to 50 million downloads in Pakistan.
It was first banned in Pakistan in October 2020 because the regulator was concerned with ByteDance’s inability to police immoral and indecent content on the service.
While the company had removed nearly 6.5 million videos in Pakistan in Jan-Jun 2020, the government wanted more.
E.g., the Pakistani government had made requests to TikTok about content from 40 user accounts in this period, but only two of those accounts were removed or restricted.
The Oct 2020 ban was lifted within ten days following TikTok’s assurance of taking action against inappropriate content.
Also, the ban on a Chinese company was seen by many as a bad sign for investors, especially when Pakistan had begun to attract international investments to fight its financial distress.
The app was banned again in Mar 2021, citing the same reasons, but this ban, too, was lifted (within three weeks).
Then in June 2021, there was a petition by a Pakistani citizen that argued that the app was spreading crime and obscenity, and so it should be banned.
According to the petition, several users upload content showing the use of drugs & weapons and suicide attempts.
The app was temporarily suspended, despite TikTok removing another 6.5 million videos in Jan-Mar 2021.
This ban was lifted within three days, and now, last week, Pakistan banned the app for the 4th time.
For a while now, several activists and journalists in Pakistan are questioning the government’s stance on the matter.
Many believe that obscenity is just an excuse and that the government is banning TikTok because of an increasing number of videos with content poking fun at Imran Khan and his government.
But since ByteDance is a Chinese company, and China has been a great Pakistan-supporter, the government doesn’t want a blanket ban on TikTok as that may offend China.
