TikTok removes over 8 million videos of Pakistanis over community guidelines’ violations

Talking to a local news outlet, when asked about the disciplinary actions being taken against violations conducted, a representative of the short video platform said, Pakistan is ranked second among the countries from which most of the material has been removed in violation of TikTok’s instructions around the world.

The United States topped the list with 11.7 million videos removed.

He added that according to the Transparency Report 2020, more than 8.15 million videos were removed from Pakistani accounts in just six months.

He said that 20 per cent of the removed material was found to be based on sexual and nudity, 18 per cent on illegal activities and 6.5 per cent on harassment and ridicule.

"Our Community Guidelines do not allow anyone to be embarrassed, harassed or ridiculed," the spokesman clarified.

Humorous content or behaviour can cause great psychological distress, so much content is removed from TikTok, he added.

According to the spokesperson, there is an effective and solid system of TikTok for the protection of youth and families and it is updated regularly.

Asked about fraud and fake videos on the platform, the spokesman said: "Our guidelines do not allow this and make it difficult with measures such as TikTok security controls and human surveillance to eliminate fake news and misinformation."

Pakistan has lifted a second ban imposed on TikTok over “immoral and unethical” content after the popular video-sharing app again offered moderate uploads.

A court in the northwestern city of Peshawar ordered the communications regulator to block the app over videos it deemed contrary to the conservative country’s moral values.