The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reported that it has blocked approximately 1.3 million uniform resource locators (URLs) by July 19, 2024, due to the presence of “anti-Islam, indecent, and immoral” content. According to the PTA’s report, its web monitoring system processed around 1.38 million URLs, blocking 93.84 percent of them (1.303 million).
This report was submitted to the Peshawar High Court in response to a petition calling for a complete ban on TikTok in Pakistan, citing the PTA’s failure to prevent the upload of “blasphemous and indecent” material on the platform.
During the hearing, PTA counsel Jehanzeb Mehsud informed the bench, consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Syed Arshad Ali, that he had provided a comprehensive report in line with the court’s earlier directives.
In the petition, lawyer Imran Khan requested the court to instruct the PTA, Federal Investigation Agency, and the information ministry to impose a permanent ban on TikTok due to the platform’s “continued, recurring, and consistent breach of community guidelines,” and violations of the Constitution, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Contents Rules, 2021, and the Pakistan Penal Code.
The bench adjourned the hearing as the petitioner’s counsel was unavailable. The 21-page PTA report detailed that out of the URLs processed, 1.03 million were blocked under the ‘decency and immorality’ category, 115,401 URLs were processed with 96,622 blocked for the ‘glory of Islam,’ and 125,134 URLs processed with 91,889 blocked for issues related to security and defense of Pakistan.
The report also highlighted other categories: 7,152 URLs for contempt of court, 10,929 for defamation and impersonation, 10,250 for ‘proxy,’ 53,915 for sectarian and hate speech, and 10,791 for various other reasons. The PTA maintains a database of approximately 1.38 million URLs with updated blocking statuses.
Furthermore, the PTA provided a breakdown of blocked URLs across social media platforms: 147,569 out of 171,744 Facebook URLs, 125,600 out of 128,626 TikTok URLs, 53,872 out of 92,945 Twitter (now X) URLs, 53,162 out of 61,719 YouTube URLs, and 22,357 out of 26,000 Instagram URLs.
Additionally, the authority noted that since 2020, TikTok has blocked 113,133 pieces of content classified as ‘immoral, indecent, and against the glory of Islam.’ In the current year, TikTok has blocked 24,800 out of 25,267 suspected pieces of content, which included 23,407 identified as immoral and indecent, and 1,393 posts deemed against the glory of Islam.
The PTA emphasized that it has taken various steps in compliance with the high court’s orders to raise public awareness about “blasphemous and immoral content” on social media, particularly on TikTok. It informed TikTok management about the court orders and sent a formal letter on July 3, 2024, regarding the existence of “objectionable content” on the platform, demanding effective measures for early detection and removal, including enhancing moderation team capabilities and employing AI solutions.
The petitioner also stated that statistics indicate Pakistan has approximately 54.4 million TikTok users, making it the seventh largest user base globally. The claim is that the platform is used to disseminate “anti-Islamic, vulgar, indecent, sectarian, and disrespectful content,” violating constitutional parameters and relevant laws.
