ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has once again blocked ByteDance’s video-sharing platform TikTok over “inappropriate content”.
“In the light of relevant provisions of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016, PTA has blocked access to TikTok App and website in the country,” the telecom regulator said. “The action has been taken due to continuous presence of inappropriate content on the platform and its failure to take such content down,” it added.
The action has been taken due to continuous presence of inappropriate content on the platform and its failure to take such content down.
— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) July 21, 2021
This is the fourth time that the government has blocked or suspended TikTok’s services in the country due to the content shared on the platform. The development comes nearly three weeks after the Sindh High Court (SHC) had withdrawn the suspension on TikTok services.
The SHC had on June 28 ordered the PTA to suspend the services of the video-sharing site on a citizen’s petition who complained over “immorality and obscenity” on the mobile app.
A bench of the high court had directed the telecommunication regular to unblock the app across the country days after it ordered that public access to the app be blocked.
On June 28, the SHC had ordered the authorities concerned to impose a ban on the video streaming app. This was the third time that the video-sharing platform was banned in the country.
It is pertinent to mention here that President Arif Alvi had joined the popular video-sharing platform last week, he had confirmed via his official Instagram account.
The president had uploaded a video of himself on Twitter to make the announcement and wrote that the purpose of him joining the app is to spread the message of positivity among the youth of Pakistan.
