On Tuesday, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) dismissed a petition seeking to prohibit TikTok, a Chinese video-sharing software.
The appeal was heard by a two-member bench consisting of Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, who sought to prohibit the uploading of illegal content that violated the Islamic code of life. It was filed by a group of 40 Peshawar citizens.
The petitioners were represented by Sara Ali Khan and Nazish Muzaffar, whereas the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority was represented by senior lawyer Jehanzeb Mehsud (PTA).
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During the hearing, the PTA counsel informed the PHC that millions of films containing immoral content had been taken from TikTok, and the accounts responsible for uploading such videos had been blocked.
The PTA stated that it was in frequent contact with the firm and that it had devised a system for temporarily suspending and then permanently blocking accounts that published immoral content on TikTok.
While ordering the PTA to continue its efforts, the court noted that the video-sharing app wasn’t the sole source of obscenity, as some political leaders had used disparaging language on social media as well.
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The court stated that the government should pay attention to this matter as well, because several political leaders have used insulting language in their remarks.
The bench issued a brief order dismissing the petition, noting that the petition had served its purpose.
The court banned TikTok service in the country in March of last year, thereby restricting people’s access to the video-sharing app. On April 1, 2021, the prohibition was removed, with the court ordering the PTA to ensure that no immoral or filthy information was uploaded.