ISLAMABAD: The chief of Pakistan’s telecom watchdog on Monday recommended that social media users posting “inappropriate content and videos” on video streaming app TikTok should be arrested.
Wildly popular among Pakistani youth, the Chinese-owned app has been shut down by authorities multiple times since last year over “indecent” content, forcing the company to pledge to moderate uploads.
Freedom of speech advocates have long criticized what they call “creeping” government censorship and control of Pakistan’s Internet and media, which authorities deny. Dating apps have been blocked and last year Pakistani regulators asked YouTube to immediately block all videos they considered “objectionable” from being accessed in the country, a demand criticized by rights campaigners.
Amir Azeem Bajwa, the chief of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said social media in Pakistan should be controlled according to the norms and values of the society in which it operated.
“TikTok cannot stop anyone from uploading a video, therefore, the individuals frequently posting inappropriate content and videos on the site should be arrested,” he said at a press conference in Islamabad.
Bajwa said the site has been blocked four times in Pakistan but “inappropriate and objectionable content” continued to be shared on the application.
PTA had recently received at least 1.1 million complaints against inappropriate content and blocked over 1.046 million reported links and websites, he said, suggesting that TikTok administrators should take satisfactory measures according to Pakistan’s terms and conditions for social media use.
The statement by the PTA chief came as hundreds of journalists camped outside Pakistan’s parliament on Monday to protest a proposed media law that seeks to create a new regulator and set up special tribunals to try media-related cases.
The protesters, which included journalists from all major Pakistani news channels and national and regional newspapers as well as from media outlets in the provinces, converged in front of parliament under the banner of a federal body for the rights of journalists, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government backs the proposed regulator, saying it is meant for the protection of journalists and to combat misinformation.
Arrest social media users posting ‘inappropriate’ TikTok content, Pakistani telecom watchdog chief says
https://arab.news/cch2z
Arrest social media users posting ‘inappropriate’ TikTok content, Pakistani telecom watchdog chief says
- The Chinese-owned video streaming app has been banned in Pakistan four times
- PTA chairman’s comments come amid journalists’ protests over proposed law to create new regulator
Pakistan says nine militants killed in security operations in northwest
- The intelligence-based operations were conducted in Tank and Lakki Marwat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Military says the counterterrorism campaign is being pursued under the framework of the National Action Plan
PESHAWAR: Security forces in Pakistan said on Saturday they killed nine militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in two intelligence-based operations in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistan refers to fighters of the TTP, an umbrella group of various armed factions, as “khwarij,” a term from early Islamic history used to describe an extremist sect that rebelled against authority. The military also alleges the group receives arms and funding from the Indian government, a charge New Delhi denies.
The two operations were carried out on Dec. 5 in the volatile districts of Tank and Lakki Marwat, according to a statement from the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
“On reported presence of khwarij, an intelligence-based operation was conducted by the Security Forces in Tank District,” the statement said. “During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location and after an intense fire exchange, seven khwarij were sent to hell.”
“Another intelligence-based operation was conducted in Lakki Marwat District,” it added. “In ensuing fire exchange, two more khwarij were effectively neutralized by the security forces.”
ISPR said weapons and ammunition were recovered from the militants, whom it described as “Indian sponsored” and accused of involvement in attacks on security personnel, law enforcement agencies and civilians.
It said follow-up “sanitization operations” were under way as part of the country’s counterterrorism campaign under Azm-e-Istehkam, approved by the Federal Apex Committee of the National Action Plan, which aims to eliminate what it called foreign-supported militant threats in the country.
