TikTok reviews, takes action on community guideline violations, says spokesperson

The spokesperson for TikTok said on Thursday that the social media platform had grown its local-language moderation capacity for Pakistan, and worked diligently to review and take action on content in violation of its community guidelines.

"We continue to work with regulators, and look forward to serving the millions of TikTok users and creators in Pakistan who have found a home for creativity, fun and vital economic opportunities for many years to come," the spokesperson further added in a statement.

"The creativity and passion of our community brought joy to households across Pakistan and provided a home for incredibly talented creators," the spokesperson added

The spokesperson's statement comes a few days after, the Sindh High Court (SHC), on June 28, banned the social media app in the country over "immoral content" and for celebrating "LGBTQ-Pride Month".

The latest ban, the third within the last two years, will be applicable till at least July 8, the next date of hearing of a case against it.

An SHC bench issued this order while hearing a “suit of declaration and injunctions” in which the petitioner had nominated the federal government, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and TikTok as respondents.

Read TikTok has removed nearly 6.5 million videos from Pakistan

Earlier on March 11, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had also ordered the PTA to ban TikTok over "immoral content".

The PHC, however, lifted the ban on April 1 after the PTA told the court that it had raised the issue again with the TikTok’s administration.

On June 30, it was reported that the global platform for creating and sharing short videos, today released its quarterly transparency report which indicated Pakistan as the second-largest market to have videos removed that violated TikTok’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service and those promoting Covid-19 misinformation.

During the three-month period from January till March 2021, 61,951,327 videos were removed globally, which is less than 1% of all videos uploaded on TikTok. Of those videos, TikTok identified and removed 91.3% before a user reported them, 81.8% before they received any views, and 93.1% within 24 hours of being posted.

In the Pakistani market, TikTok removed 6,495,992 videos making it the second market to get most videos removed after the USA where 8,540,088 videos were removed during this period.