New Update
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has restored the services of TikTok on assurances of the platform to "control immoral and indecent" content.
"The company assured that TikTok users who are continuously involved in uploading unlawful content will be blocked from using the platform," the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said in a tweet, adding that keeping in view the assurances, it decided to lift the ban on TikTok.
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However, the authority said it would continue to monitor the platform in order to ensure that "unlawful content contrary to Pakistan's law and societal values is not disseminated".
The ban was imposed in July. The PTA remained in communications with the TikTok management after the ban.
The restoration comes as a result of "continuous engagement, senior management of the platform assured PTA of its commitment to take necessary measures to control unlawful content in accordance with local laws and societal norms," the PTA said.
Notably, TikTok was banned in Pakistan for the first time in October 2020, but it was lifted after just 10 days following an assurance by the company to block accounts "spreading obscenity". The Peshawar High Court in March had imposed a ban on the video-sharing application that was later lifted in April.
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This is the fourth time that the PTA has lifted a ban on the platform after blocking it for various reasons.
The app said it removed more than six million videos in Pakistan from January to March, making the country the second market to get the most videos removed after the US. The app, owned by China's ByteDance, has been downloaded more than 39 million times in Pakistan.
-PTC News
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