KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has withdrawn its ban on the social media platform, TikTok, and ordered Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on Friday to restore the social media app.
The SHC previously ordered the suspension of TikTok on June 28 last but now it directed the PTA to dispose of the applications regarding LGBTQ+ content at the earliest.
The PTA implemented the first court order on June 30 but on Friday it requested the court to withdraw its earlier order.
In today’s hearing today, the court directed the PTA to conclude hearing the complaint filed by a citizen against immoral content being shared on TikTok.
PTA officials informed the court that proceedings on the complaint were underway and promised to dispose of the complaints about homosexuality by July 5.
The court adjourned the hearing until that date.
On Monday this week, the SHC had ordered to ban the video-sharing app TikTok across Pakistan, nearly three months after the country had lifted a ban imposed on it.
The SHC’s order marked the third time that the video-sharing platform has been banned in Pakistan.
The SHC’s 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 had 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, however, the PTA did not do anything in this regard.
The court has summoned the parties involved in the case on July 8.
Earlier on June 28, an application was filed in the Supreme Court 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, while the use of TikTok in educational institutions was leading to a bad environment for the students
The petitioner said individuals are likewise making recordings of endeavors like an attempt of suicide to get views on TikTok, while the content on it was against the Islamic laws of Pakistan.
The petitioner 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.
Back in April, Pakistan, for the second time, had officially lifted a ban on China-based ByteDance’s app TikTok consequent to a local high court’s order.
This was done almost a month after the same judicature had directed the state-run telecommunication authority to “immediately block access” to the short-form video-sharing service.
However, the PTA had also issued a stern warning to TikTok against “vulgar and objectionable content”, which it was told to remove.
The “PTA has issued directions to the service providers to unblock access to the TikTok App”, the authority said in a press release shared on Twitter.
“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,” it warned.
The court in Peshawar was told 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 told the PTA’s director-general that the body should have a system that could differentiate between “good and bad”.
“When PTA takes action [against immoral content], people will not upload such videos,” Justice Qaiser had said, 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.
Separately, More than six million videos were removed from TikTok in Pakistan in three months, the app has reported, as it battles a series of suspensions.
Wildly popular among the youth, the Chinese-owned app has been shut down by the courts twice over “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 market to get the most videos removed after the USA, where 8,540,088 videos were removed,” TikTok Pakistan’s latest transparency report announced on Wednesday, covering January to March.
Around 15 per cent of the removed videos were “adult nudity and sexual activities”.
A spokesman said the Pakistan-made videos were banned as a result of both user and government requests.
In the Muslim nation, posting videos in Western clothes that reveal too much skin is taboo, and is often met with abuse.
Earlier this month, small anti-TikTok rallies were held against what protesters called the spreading 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 digital rights activist Nighat Dad.
“Social media platforms are more willing to remove and block content in Pakistan to evade complete bans,” she said.
It comes as the app faces a fresh court battle in Karachi, where the Sindh High Court has asked telecommunication authorities to suspend it for spreading “immoral content”. The platform is still working in Pakistan, however.
Dating apps have been blocked and last year regulators had asked YouTube to immediately block all videos they considered “objectionable” from being accessed in the country, a demand criticised by rights campaigners.
With additional input from INP
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