PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to produce a progress report on the way taken for blocking‘ unlawful’ contents, including immoral material, on the popular mobile videotape app, TikTok.
A bench conforming of Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Abdul Shakoor observed that the country had its own social values, so the court wo n’t allow any material on TikTok that would‘ loose minds of the youthful generation’.
It added that it could n’t cut off the country from rest of the world, so TikTok could n’t be banned permanently as it was an transnational mobile app.
The bench, still, observed that there should be a filtration medium for the app.
Declares ca n’t allow any material on app that will‘ loose minds’of youth
The court was hearing a solicitation concertedly filed by 40 residers of Peshawar, who sought orders for the repliers, including PTA and Federal Investigation Agency, to ban TikTok to the extent of the violation of the indigenous vittles, which do n’t allow acts contrary to Islamic law of life in the country.
Directing the PTA to submit details of progress on the matter, it fixed May 31 for the coming hail into the solicitation.
In March last time, the court had banned TikTok service in the country leading to the blocking of the people’s access to the videotape- participating app.
The ban was lifted on April 1 with the court asking the PTA to insure that no immoral and stag contents are uploaded on it.
Attorneys Sara Ali Khan and Nazish Muzaffar appeared for the pleaders, whereas assistant attorney general Taufeeq Hussain Shah represented the civil government.
Jehanzeb Mehsud, the counsel for the PTA, said his customer had prepared a report on the matter.
He said the telecom controller had cooked a medium for first suspending the TikTok accounts, which participated immoral contents, and also blocking them.
Mr Mehsud said after the promulgation of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes ( Correction) Constitution, the powers of FIA had further been enhanced for dealing similar issues.
The bench observed that the constitution was substantially meant to check political propaganda. It added that there were certain vids showing youth and children committing self-murder.
Mr Mehsud said the Islamabad High Court had banned the PUBG game but lifted the ban latterly.
The pleaders said the contents participated on TikTok violated Indigenous vittles, which guaranteed social and moral good of citizens.
The PTA had placed a ban on TikTok last time. Still, it was lifted latterly.
During a hail in Sept last time, the telecom controller had informed the court that it wo n’t lift the TikTok ban until unlawful contents were removed from the mobile app and a medium was introduced in the country by its driver for‘ visionary content temperance’.
In a report submitted to the court before, the PTA said it had issued instructions to the TikTok operation under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and the Junking and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards Rules, 2020, to take concrete way to remove unlawful contents from the app. It had added that on the failure of the TikTok operation to misbehave with the instructions, it blocked the app in the country through an order on July 20, 2021.
In response to that report, the TikTok operation had claimed that it wasn’t handed with specific information regarding‘ unhappy content’allegedly plant in violation of the original community guidelines. It had also said its rearmost Community Guidelines Enforcement Report showed that Pakistan was the alternate- ranking request in the world in the first quarter of 2021 with the largest volume of vids removed from TikTok.
“ During this period, we executed our community guidelines and took down further than six million vids in just three months. Also, we permanently ban accounts for constantly or egregiously violating our community guidelines,” it had said.
