ISLAMABAD: Video-sharing platform TikTok has taken down around 30 million videos in Pakistan for violating its community guidelines, the company said on Tuesday, underscoring its resolve to effectively combat violations.
TikTok, a social media app that allows users to create and share short-form videos, disclosed in its report for the second quarter of the year the platform had become extremely popular among younger generations, with over a billion active users worldwide.
The Q2 2024 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report detailed TikTok’s approach to content moderation in Pakistan, ensuring transparency into content generation in the South Asian country.
“The report reveals that over 30,709,744 videos were removed from TikTok in Pakistan in the latest reporting period as the platform continues to strengthen its content moderation systems to safeguard its diverse community,” TikTok said on Tuesday.
“Key findings show that 99.5 percent of these videos were proactively removed before users reported them, with 97 percent taken down within 24 hours.”
This highlighted TikTok’s commitment to ensure a “safer platform” for Pakistani users by removing harmful content before receiving any complaints, it said, adding that a total of 178, 827,465 videos were removed this year.
The platform continued to prioritize and enhance automated moderation technology which helped remove 144,430,133 videos and underscored the TikTok’s “innovative use of its detection technology to eliminate harmful content in real-time,” according to the report.
“With a proactive detection rate now at 98.2 percent, TikTok is more efficient than ever at addressing harmful content before users encounter it,” the platform said.
“The report also highlights a 50 percent reduction in the number of restored videos, reinforcing the accuracy and effectiveness of TikTok’s content moderation systems.”
This is not the first time that TikTok has removed videos from Pakistan. It took down approximately 20 million videos in Pakistan for violating community guidelines in the first quarter of this year.
In the past, Pakistani authorities have banned the video-sharing service several times, with the first ban instituted in October 2020 over what was described as widespread complaints about allegedly “immoral, obscene, and vulgar” content on the app.
The service has been prohibited from operating in the country thrice for more than 15 months since then. In November 2021, a Pakistani court finally reversed the ban after TikTok assured the government it would control the spread of objectionable content.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has emphasized the need for international cooperation to strengthen the capacity of developing countries in combating organized crimes such as money laundering, human trafficking and cybercrime, the country’s top investigation agency said on Tuesday, at a forum in Vienna.

The 12th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) is currently being held in Austria. Pakistan was represented by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Chief Ahmad Ishaque Jehangir, Director General of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority Ehsan Sadiq and Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram.

The COP to the UNTOC, held every two years, serves as a vital platform for member states to discuss and develop strategies for enhancing cooperation in combating organized crime. The UNTOC remains the primary international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime.

“[The top FIA official] called for international cooperation grounded in mutual respect and shared responsibility, stressing the importance of strengthening the capacities of developing countries in combating organized crimes such as money laundering, human trafficking, and cybercrime,” said an official statement released on Tuesday.

Addressing the session, the FIA chief called for a “holistic approach” to address the root causes associated with the challenges posed by transnational organized crime.

Reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to tackling these issues, he highlighted how economic disparities and lack of opportunities created “fertile grounds” for criminal enterprises and termed it pivotal to promote “inclusive and sustainable development.”

The FIA chief underscored Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to tackle human trafficking and migrant smuggling, emphasizing the need to expand legal migration pathways to address “irregular” migration.

He also spoke about corruption and illicit financial flows, highlighting the legislative reforms undertaken by Pakistan to combat money laundering and “terrorist financing.”

Jehangir urged the global community to expedite the return of stolen assets to developing countries so that the “ill-gotten resources” were utilized for socio-economic development.

He also emphasized that a “united global effort” was essential for achieving UNTOC objectives for ensuring a safer and more just world for everyone.