TikTok Pakistan ban is back

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The popular short video app is no longer available on mobile devices in the country after regulators issued an order late Thursday to block access to it “immediately”.

Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority said it banned TikTok after a provincial court in Peshawar called for the platform to be removed.

Judges argued that the app was “harmful to youth” in Pakistan, according to a court order. They also claimed that “videos are uploaded [were] against the stated norms and values ​​”of the country.

The platform was first blocked last October after the telecommunications authority accused it of hosting “immoral” and “indecent” content.

The authority said at the time that TikTok had not created a satisfactory way to block offensive content after a warning to get its house in order over the summer.

The decision was later reversed after the app, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, pledged to moderate content in accordance with local law.

Since then there have been questions about the future of the company in Pakistan.

Representatives of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority said in court on Thursday that TikTok had yet to prove that it could deliver on its promise to crack down on certain content, said Sara Ali Khan, legal representative for a local Peshawar who filed the petition that led the court to to consider a ban. Khan told CNN Business that she was in court during the proceedings.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. But it has previously said that it “has robust protections to support a secure and hospitable platform” and “would continue to enable Pakistani voices and creativity in a safe environment”.
The social network has recently faced numerous hurdles all over the world. In January, it was forced to fire workers in India after the country had already doubled its ban on the platform for a month.

TikTok said at the time that it had “had no clear guidance on how and when to restore our apps” in India, and “had no choice but to reduce the size of our workforce.”

– Michelle Toh contributed to this report.

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