Lahore High Court (LHC) has sought a reply from PTA and federal government on a petition seeking the imposition of ban on video application TikTok. A single bench of LHC headed by Justice Shahid Mubeen took up the petition for hearing on Monday. The petition has been filed by local lawyer Nadeem Sarwar.
The petitioner demands the ban on TikTok and claims that it is disastrous for the young generation. The petition argues that TikTok wastes time and money and promotes obscenity in society. The lawyer Nadeem Sarwar, in his application, even made startling claims that application TikTok is allegedly promoting online harassment and blackmailing.
Govt should put Ban Tik Tok in Pakistan…#BanTikTok pic.twitter.com/gxNf8hN0Dl
— Tahir Iqbal (@TahirIqbal49) May 19, 2019
Hence, the petitioner sought the court to issue orders to PTA to place a ban on TikTok. He also requested the court to direct the federal government agencies to enact Privacy Protection Act to save the young generation from the debilitating effects of social media.
If not permanently, the petitioner asked the court to place a ban on the application TikTok and the spread of its videos until the decision of the case. The court adjourned the hearing of the case till December 12 due to the absence of the petitioner.
While Pakistan is mulling to place a ban on TikTok, the application has faced a ban in a few other countries including India and Bangladesh.
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Earlier, this year in April, popular video-making application was removed from Google and Apple app stores after a state court’s decision in India. The state court of Tamil Nadu prohibited its download.
A Southern Tamil Nadu court had ordered the federal government on April 3rd to ban TikTok citing that it encouraged pornography and pedophilia.
Resultantly, the federal government wrote a letter to Google and Apple requesting it to follow the court’s decision. According to the Indian Information Technology ministry, Google has reportedly blocked access to TikTok in its play store in India.
The application has already been banned in Bangladesh while it was slashed with heavy fines in the USA for illegally collecting information from children. Indian Supreme Court had rejected the appeal of TikTok to suspend its decision of banning the application on Monday. The apex court will again hear the case on April 22nd.
Read more: Should TikTok be banned in Pakistan?
Pakistan, too, should seriously consider the ban on application owing to the serious allegations on it and with child abuse rampant in the society.