ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday blocked the popular social media app TikTok after a court order over a complaint that it ran indecent content, a spokesman for the country’s telecoms regulator said.
“The court has asked PTA to block access to TikTok,” Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) spokesman Khurram Mehran told Reuters, adding that the authority would comply with the order.
A high court in the northwestern city of Peshawar said it ordered the ban after a private complainant said the social media app was spreading indecent content, said Jehanzeb Mehsud, a lawyer who represented the PTA.
The service providers have been directed to immediately block access to TikTok, the regulator said in a statement.
The app stopped working within an hour of the direction.
A TikTok representative in Pakistan said strong safeguards were in place to keep inappropriate content off the platform.
“In Pakistan, we have grown our local-language moderation team, and have mechanisms to report and remove content in violation of our community guidelines,” the representative said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to serve the millions of TikTok users and creators in Pakistan who have found a home for creativity and fun.”
Muslim-majority Pakistan had banned the app in October, but restored it within 10 days after the company vowed to block all accounts involved in spreading “obscenity and immorality.”
The telecom regulator said the social media company had agreed to moderate accounts in accordance with local laws.
TikTok has been one of the most-downloaded apps in the South Asian nation behind WhatsApp and Facebook.
TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, has become hugely popular in a short period of time, by encouraging young users to post brief videos.
But the app has been mired in controversy in a number of countries, with authorities raising privacy concerns and security fears due to its links with China.
TikTok has denied that its ties to China pose a security concern in other countries.
Pakistan blocks social media app TikTok over indecency complaint
https://arab.news/zsw5c
Pakistan blocks social media app TikTok over indecency complaint
- A TikTok representative in Pakistan said strong safeguards were in place to keep inappropriate content off the platform
- The service providers have been directed to immediately block access to TikTok
UAE outlines approach to AI governance amid regulation debate at World Economic Forum
- Minister of State Maryam Al-Hammadi highlights importance of a robust regulatory framework to complement implementation of AI technology
- Other experts in panel discussion say regulators should address problems as they arise, rather than trying to solve problems that do not yet exist
DUBAI: The UAE has made changes to 90 percent of its laws in the past four years, Maryam Al-Hammadi, minister of state and the secretary-general of the Emirati Cabinet, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Speaking during a panel discussion titled “Regulating at the Speed of Code,” she highlighted the importance of having a robust regulatory framework in place to complement the implementation of artificial intelligence technology in the public and private sectors.
The process of this updating and repealing of laws has driven the UAE’s efforts to develop an AI model that can assist in the drafting of legislation, along with collecting feedback from stakeholders on proposed laws and suggesting improvements, she said.
Although AI might be more agile at shaping regulation, “there are some principles that we put in the model that we are developing that we cannot compromise,” Al-Hammadi added. These include rules for human accountability, transparency, privacy and data protection, along with constitutional safeguards and a thorough understanding of the law.
At this stage, “we believe AI can advise but still (the) human is in command,” she said.
Authorities in the UAE are aiming to develop, within a two-year timeline, a shareable model to help other nations learn and benefit from its experiences, Al-Hammadi added.
Argentina’s minister of deregulation and state transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, warned against overregulation at the cost of innovation.
Politicians often react to a “salient event” by overreacting, he said, describing most regulators as “very imaginative of all the terrible things that will happen to people if they’re free.”
He said that “we have to take more risk,” and regulators should wait to address problems as they arise rather than trying to create solutions for problems that do not yet exist.
This sentiment was echoed by Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, who said “imaginative policymakers” often focus more on risks and potential harms than on the economic and growth benefits of innovation.
He pointed to Europe as an example of this, arguing that an excessive focus on “all the possible harms” of new technologies has, over time, reduced competitiveness and risks leaving the region behind in what he described as a “new technological revolution.”
