PHC orders PTA to remove blasphemous content from TikTok

• PHC addresses concerns over inappropriate content on TikTok.
• Petitioner's lawyer appeals court to completely ban TikTok.
• Court asks PTA to play proactive role in addressing concerns.
  

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to ensure the removal of any blasphemous and objectionable material from the social media short-video sharing platform TikTok.

A bench comprising Justice SM Atiq Shah and Justice Shakeel Ahmed presided over the critical hearing of the petition seeking to ban TikTok in Pakistan.

The petition was filed by Advocate Imran Khan requesting the court to direct the respondents — PTA, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and Ministry of Information — to ban TikTok in Pakistan permanently for persistent breach of guidelines and violation of the Constitution.

The court addressed concerns over the platform's content, specifically focusing on blasphemous and objectionable videos.

Jehanzaib Mehsud, the lawyer representing PTA, informed the court, "We have submitted our comments today."

The petitioner's lawyer said they had in their petition appealed to the court that TikTok be banned, arguing, "While we do not oppose the sharing of positive content, the platform is also being used to share blasphemous material."

Justice Ahmed supported this view, asserting, "Positive content should be shared, but there must be no place for objectionable material."

During the hearing, PTA's lawyer noted that any blasphemous posts on TikTok were promptly blocked. 

However, Justice Shah questioned the effectiveness of these measures, pointing out “why such content didn’t get filtered in Pakistan like in the US and other countries, where they have better filtering systems in place.”

"Why hasn't such a system been implemented here?" he asked. He further inquired about the possibility of creating a firewall to automatically block blasphemous videos, to which the PTA's lawyer responded, "We do not currently have such a system."

The court emphasised the national importance of this issue, urging the PTA to take a proactive role in addressing the concerns raised. 

The PTA was directed to remove all objectionable content from TikTok and to submit a detailed report within seven days.

The next hearing of the case is scheduled for July 24.

The popular video-sharing platform TikTok was initially banned in Pakistan in October 2020. Since then, it has faced multiple bans, with authorities citing concerns over the promotion of immoral content.

In its last hearing on June 21,  the PHC had sought the PTA response to a petition seeking a ban on TikTok.

According to TikTok's latest transparency reports, in the second half of 2023, TikTok received 303 requests from the Pakistani government, resulting in the removal of 93.5% of reported content.

The platform removed 12,392 pieces of content due to community guidelines violations and 2,126 pieces of content due to local law violations, the report said.

TikTok also removed 270 accounts due to community guidelines violations and 59 accounts due to local law violations.

Additionally, TikTok's latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Report shows that the platform proactively removes content that violates its guidelines, with a 99.5% proactive removal rate globally in Q4 2023.