TikTok has handed over the responsibility for removing blasphemous content to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), stating that it removes videos in response to regulatory complaints.
In a letter to the Peshawar High Court (PHC), where a petition has been filed against the app, TikTok stated that it has lately received no escalations over blasphemous content through the special portal.
A bench consisting of Justice SM Atiq Shah and Justice Shakeel Ahmed is presided over the key hearing of the case seeking to prohibit TikTok in Pakistan due to its purported blasphemous and immoral content.
Advocate Imran Khan submitted the case, demanding that the court order the respondents — the PTA, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the Ministry of Information — to permanently prohibit TikTok in Pakistan for chronic violations of rules and the Constitution.
In the last hearing, the court asked the telecommunications regulator to remove any blasphemous or offensive TikTok content.
TikTok stated in its letter that it has a rigorous policy regarding blasphemous content in Pakistan and takes the problem very seriously.
TikTok has taken precautions and offered the PTA with privileged access to a specialized site to submit such content for accelerated review, according to the letter.
It stated that the app bans access to any content that violates Pakistan’s blasphemy laws as reported through the portal, and that there have been no recent escalations.
“Hence, having come across this news report, we also reached out to PTA to request them to report the appropriate content, and we await their reply in this regard,” the letter reads.
TikTok, a famous video sharing app, was first prohibited in Pakistan in October 2020. Since then, it has been banned many times, with officials claiming worries over the spread of immoral content.
