Nearly 10 million Pakistani posts removed for violating community guidelines – TikTok

Pakistani activists demand a ban on TikTok, a social media application, during a demonstration in Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 26, 2021. (AFP)

• The company says it took down more than 81 million videos worldwide between April and June 2021
• Pakistan approved rules to regulate social media with up to $3 million fine for violators

ISLAMABAD: An international short-form video-sharing platform, TikTok, said on Thursday it removed over 9.85 million posts generated by Pakistani users between April and June for violating community guidelines, adding the country ranked second in terms of the volume of removed content in the world.
TikTok has been banned several times by Pakistani courts and regulatory authorities for circulating “immoral content.”
The company made the announcement as the Pakistani government approved new social media rules to regulate its cyberspace, including imposing a penalty of up to Rs500 million, or roughly $3 million, on service providers and social media companies in cases of statutory violations.
The rules, which have been under discussion since November last year, have invited fierce criticism from rights groups who fear they may be used to stifle dissent and free speech.
“To protect the safety of the community and the integrity of the platform, 81,518,334 videos were removed globally from April to June, comprising less than 1 percent of all uploaded content,” the company said in an official handout, adding: “With 9,851,404 videos removed, Pakistan ranked second in the world for the largest volume of videos taken down for Community Guidelines violations in Q2 2021.”
TikTok said 93 percent of the removed videos were take down within 24 hours of posting and 94.1 percent before being reported by a user.
“Even more promising, was the finding that 87.5 percent of removed content had zero views,” it added.
The company provided the figures from its Community Guidelines Enforcement Report which was released on Thursday and detailed the volume and nature of violative content and accounts removed from the platform during the second quarter of 2021.
Pakistan’s new social media rules provide an oversight mechanism under which service providers are required to make community guidelines available for users to access or use any online information system.
Social media companies are also required to not “knowingly host, display, upload, publish, transmit, update or share any online content in violation of local laws.”