The famous Chinese app tiktok is all the rage these days certainly among the youth. However, its popularity yonder all age groups and it continues to entertain people of all age. Not only in Pakistan but tiktok is a noted platform across the globe. As of October 2020, tiktok surpassed over 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide ascertaining the admiration for the app. Similar to the bans that the app suffered in some other countries like America and India, it had to face the same in Pakistan though the grounds are different.
Tiktok has become a burning question in the country providing content of all sorts, Pakistan banned tiktok citing it “immoral” and “indecent” on 9th October,2020 but reversed its ban 19 days later. Then in March,2021 the Pakistani court ordered a new tiktok ban due to complaints over indecent content. While the prohibition was appreciated by some, it also received backlash from the others. But the question rises here; the problem is with the content? Tiktok is a social medium, like all others. Like You tube, like Facebook, like Instagram. The content is always defined by the people and not the app. Each and every medium can be good or bad, cringe and educational. The point is how you use it! If your population wants to consume vulgar content, outlawing apps would do no good.
Pakistan is NO.1 in searching porn on the internet! Just browse about the list of top trending shows on Netflix in Pakistan and you’ll know what’s the choice of series of Pakistani people. The whole point is not bashing people for their choices; I am no moral police here. But the point is to let everyone know that banning apps does not filter society of immorality and indecency. Sadly, its ingrained in our nation and that doesn’t go away with Pakistan turning into Ban-istan. On the other hand, the huge revenue that is generated by the app and the opportunities it provides to the people also cannot be left inconspicuous.
The country has already suffered losses worth of billions of dollars due to judicial activism and can take no more such prohibitions. Tiktok also paves way for the young people to express their talent and many talented people have been discovered through this app. The idea we need to learn is to co-exist. You like tiktok? Okay. You don’t like tiktok? Its Okay. Moreover, our courts need to focus on other major problems such as inflation, people dying of hunger, unemployment etc instead of meditating over the harms of a meagre app.
