Arrest social media users posting ‘inappropriate’ TikTok content, Pakistani telecom watchdog chief says

Activists of the Jamhoori Wattan Party carry placards during a protest to demand the ban of TikTok social media, in Lahore on June 18, 2021. (AFP)

• The Chinese-owned video streaming app has been banned in Pakistan four times 
• PTA chairman’s comments come amid journalists’ protests over proposed law to create new regulator 

ISLAMABAD: The chief of Pakistan’s telecom watchdog on Monday recommended that social media users posting “inappropriate content and videos” on video streaming app TikTok should be arrested. 
Wildly popular among Pakistani youth, the Chinese-owned app has been shut down by authorities multiple times since last year over “indecent” content, forcing the company to pledge to moderate uploads.
Freedom of speech advocates have long criticized what they call “creeping” government censorship and control of Pakistan’s Internet and media, which authorities deny. Dating apps have been blocked and last year Pakistani regulators asked YouTube to immediately block all videos they considered “objectionable” from being accessed in the country, a demand criticized by rights campaigners.
Amir Azeem Bajwa, the chief of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said social media in Pakistan should be controlled according to the norms and values of the society in which it operated. 
“TikTok cannot stop anyone from uploading a video, therefore, the individuals frequently posting inappropriate content and videos on the site should be arrested,” he said at a press conference in Islamabad.
Bajwa said the site has been blocked four times in Pakistan but “inappropriate and objectionable content” continued to be shared on the application.
PTA had recently received at least 1.1 million complaints against inappropriate content and blocked over 1.046 million reported links and websites, he said, suggesting that TikTok administrators should take satisfactory measures according to Pakistan’s terms and conditions for social media use.
The statement by the PTA chief came as hundreds of journalists camped outside Pakistan’s parliament on Monday to protest a proposed media law that seeks to create a new regulator and set up special tribunals to try media-related cases.
The protesters, which included journalists from all major Pakistani news channels and national and regional newspapers as well as from media outlets in the provinces, converged in front of parliament under the banner of a federal body for the rights of journalists, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government backs the proposed regulator, saying it is meant for the protection of journalists and to combat misinformation.