Zindagi Trust, TikTok extend digital safety awareness drive

The TikTok and Zindagi Trust have announced an extension in their collaboration aimed at driving digital safety awareness with the support of the ministry of information technology and telecommunications.

The renewed partnership, which is part of TikTok's global endeavours during Safer Internet Month, will impact over 50,000 beneficiaries across 100 public schools across Pakistan. Additionally, the Pakistan Telecom Foundation has also become part of this partnership and will provide access to an increased number of schools for this campaign.

A signing ceremony took place between TikTok and the Zindagi Trust in the presence of the information technology ministry officials who endorsed the Digital Safety programme. During the first phase of this partnership that was launched last year, over 20 workshops were conducted in two government schools adopted by the Zindagi Trust — SMB Fatima Jinnah and Khatoon-e-Pakistan schools benefitting around 1,800 students, teachers and parents.

The workshops contained information on becoming digitally safe, including TikTok's community guidelines and safety policies. Farah Tukan, the head of government relations and public policy for Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Pakistan and South Asia at TikTok, said, “We are happy to extend our partnership with the Zindagi Trust, especially after the impact we were jointly able to create around digital safety awareness during the first phase. This extension is another step in the right direction for ensuring that our TikTok community in Pakistan remains digitally safe."

Federal IT Minister Aminul Haque remarked, "To commemorate the Safer Internet Month, the government deems it a priority to actively work towards providing safer digital spaces. The partnership between Zindagi Trust and TikTok is a step in the right direction for disseminating necessary awareness and guiding young people towards digital safety. We are looking forward to add value to this partnership for the benefit of our younger generation." Aisha Humera Moriani, additional secretary and chief executive officer of the National Information Technology Board said the government was fully committed to building a cutting-edge digital infrastructure in Pakistan that promised a safe cyberspace and conducive regulatory environment for everyone. She added that by supporting this partnership between TikTok and Zindagi Trust, the government aimed at nurturing e-governance, transparency and financial inclusion, despite many challenges and threats associated with the internet such as data privacy, cybercrimes and fake news.

Commenting on the development, Zindagi Trust Chief Academic Officer Dr Aamna Pasha said that the Zindagi Trust recognised that with opportunities came risks and while providing access to IT to the students, it was important that we also prepared them to understand and mitigate potential risks. “We are particularly proud of this collaboration and lucky to have found wonderful partners like TikTok that enable us to continue our efforts of impacting public schools,” she added. In the second phase of this collaborative programme, a digital safety toolkit would be developed to help raise awareness regarding digital safety amongst students, teachers and parents. The toolkit would be a comprehensive guide incorporating necessary guidelines to navigate the digital realm responsibly through theoretical knowledge and interactive activities.

Specific approaches would be provided to counter different problems online such as cyber harassment, bullying, scamming, fake news, etc. alongside teaching them responsible reporting and protection mechanisms.