TikTok removes six million videos in Pakistan in response to a ban

More than six million videos were taken from TikTok in Pakistan in three months, according to the app, which is battling an on-and-off ban in the socially religious society. The Chinese-owned app, which is extremely popular among Pakistani youth, has been shut down by authorities twice for “indecent” content, most recently in March, after which the company pledged to moderate uploads.

“In the Pakistani market, TikTok removed 6,495,992 videos, making it the second most video-removed market behind the United States, where 8,540,088 films were removed,” TikTok Pakistan’s latest transparency report, covering January to March, said on Wednesday. Around 15% of the videos that were removed were of “adult nudity and sexual activities.”

According to a spokeswoman, the videos were removed due to user and government requests. Posting videos in Western clothes that display too much skin is disliked by the Islamic community and is frequently met with abuse. Small anti-TikTok rallies were held earlier this month in response to what protestors called the spread of homosexual content.

“One can speculate that this is a result of government pressure or a reflection of the large volume of content produced in Pakistan given the popularity of the platform or both,” said Nighat Dad, a digital rights activist.

“Social media platforms are more willing to remove and block content in Pakistan to evade complete bans,” she added.

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