KARACHI: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) banned live streaming application Bigo and issued a “final warning” to video-sharing app TikTok.
According to a statement released by the PTA, a number of complaints were received from “different segments of society against immoral, obscene and vulgar content on social media applications particularly TikTok and Bigo.”
“PTA had issued necessary notices to the aforementioned social media companies under law to moderate the socialisation and content within legal and moral limits, in accordance with the laws of the country,” the statement said.
The PTA said the response of these companies was “not satisfactory” and decided to immediately block Bigo and issue a final warning to TikTok.
“Therefore, in exercise of its powers under PECA, the PTA has decided to immediately block Bigo and issue a final warning to TikTok to put in place a comprehensive mechanism to control obscenity, vulgarity and immorality through its social media application,” the statement said.
Earlier this month, the PTA temporarily suspended online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). The authority had said it had received several complaints about the game being “addictive, a waste of time and its potential negative impact on children’s physical and psychological health.”
There have been several petitions have been filed against the ban. The move has also been opposed by Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry who said the banning culture was “killing the tech industry”.
He expressed the hope that the IT minister Syed Aminul Haq would take notice of the ban and instruct the PTA not to encourage such restrictions as it would cause harm to the development of national technology on a long-term basis.
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