TikTok says committed to complying with local laws

ISLAMABAD: In respectful compliance to the orders of the Peshawar High Court, the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) has issued directions to service providers to immediately block access to the TikTok App. During the hearing of a case on Thursday, the PHC had ordered for the blocking of App.

The official statement from TikTok regarding the ban notification from the Peshawar High Court stated that maintaining a safe and positive in-app environment is essential to the TikTok experience. We use a combination of technologies and moderation strategies to detect and review content that violates our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines (https:// support.tiktok.com/ur/privacy-safety/community-policy-ur), and we implement penalties, including removing videos and banning accounts when there are violations. Our H2 2020 Transparency Report shows that we aggressively and proactively take down inappropriate content in Pakistan. This highlights our commitment to complying with local laws.

The statement added in fact, we have enhanced moderation capabilities in Pakistan, with our local-language moderation team growing close to 250pc since September. At the same time, TikTok is built upon the foundation of creative expression. We are committed to continue working closely with the PTA to further strengthen our safeguards on behalf of our users, but we are also committed to ensuring our users’ rights to express themselves creatively on the platform, in line with our policies. We have faith that by working with the authorities to explain our policies and demonstrate our dedication to user security, we can arrive at a resolution that would allow TikTok to continue serving the millions of users in Pakistan who have found a home for creative expression on our platform, the statement concluded.