Sindh High Court Orders Banning TikTok In Pakistan

Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday ordered to ban TikTok across Pakistan, nearly three months after the country removed a ban imposed on it.

The SHC orders it the third time that the app be banned in Pakistan.

The SHC ruling came during a hearing, where the court issued a notice to the attorney general of Pakistan and directed him to follow the orders and get the app banned.

Presenting his arguments in the court, the petitioner’s lawyer said Peshawar High Court earlier banned TikTok as some videos uploaded on the platform are “immoral and against the teachings of Islam.”

The lawyer said his client had approached the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) before moving the court, still, the PTA did not do anything in this regard.

The court has called the parties involved in the case on July 8.

Application filed in Supreme Court (SC) seeks ban on TikTok

Earlier in the day, an application was filed in the SC seeking a ban on Tiktok.

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

Ali added individuals are likewise making recordings of activities like an attempt of suicide to get views on the app, while the content on it was against the Islamic laws of Pakistan.

He 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.

Ban removed for the second time

Back in April, Pakistan, for the second time, had officially removed a ban on TikTok consequent to a local high court’s order.

This was done almost a month after the same judicature had directed PTA to “immediately block access” of the TikTok service.

However, PTA had also issued a strict warning to TikTok against “vulgar and objectionable content”, which it was told to remove.

The authority said in a press release shared on Twitter, “PTA has issued directions to the service providers to unblock access to the TikTok App”,

It also warned, “However, the TikTok App management has been told to ensure that vulgar and objectionable content are to be made inaccessible in accordance with the PECA provisions and directions of the Honorable Court,”

TikTok appoints focal person to focus on ‘immoral content’

The court in Peshawar stated during the hearing on April 1 that TikTok had appointed a focal person to focus on “immoral content” and what action should be taken in that regard.

PHC Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan had stated to the PTA’s director-general that the body should have a system that could differentiate between “good and bad”.

Justice Qaiser had said, “When PTA takes action [against immoral content], people will not upload such videos,” to which the latter said the authority had spoken to TikTok to block repeat offenders.

The PHC had then ordered the PTA to “open TikTok but immoral content should not be uploaded”, asking the official to present a detailed report on the matter during the next hearing scheduled for May 25.

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