Pakistan Court lifts ban on popular Video App 'TikTok'

Islamabad: A Pakistan Court on Friday ended the countrywide suspension of popular video-sharing mobile application TikTok.

The Sindh High Court had on June 28 directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to suspend access to TikTok till July 8. The HC had reasoned that the app be blocked as it is “spreading immorality and obscenity".

The counsel representing the PTA, today, assured the court that it would expedite the process on the petitioner's request and issue a ruling on it by July 5.

In today's hearing, the court directed the PTA to conclude hearing the complaint filed by a citizen against immoral content being shared on TikTok expeditiously and ordered it to restore the social media application in the country.

Pakistan had blocked TikTok temporarily in October 2020 for a few days, and the ban was lifted after TikTok's management assured the Pakistani government they would block all accounts "repeatedly involved in spreading obscenity and immorality."

The country has a patchy history with social media content, similar to its neighboring nation, India. The latter has already blocked TikTok following a border skirmish with China in the region of Ladakh.

In 2020, the PTA had asked YouTube to block all videos that the regulator considered "objectionable" from the platform. 

TikTok challenged the latest ban in Pakistan. “TikTok is built upon the foundation of creative expression, with strong safeguards in place to keep inappropriate content off the platform,” it said.

Last year Pakistani regulators had asked YouTube to immediately block all videos they consider "objectionable" from being accessed in the country, a demand criticized by rights campaigners