A constitutional plea has been formally submitted to the Lahore High Court, advocating for the prohibition of the renowned social media platform, TikTok.
The petitioner contends that the incessant dissemination of indecent material on the platform is detrimentally impacting the younger generation.
The plea, initiated by an individual named Rana Usman Anwar, was brought forth under the guidance of Advocate Sohail Ahmad Shaikh. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the federal government have both been cited as respondents in the plea.
The petitioner highlights the ongoing influx of indecent content on TikTok as a chief concern, attributing it to the degradation of the youth’s moral fabric.
The plea alleges that the platform’s content has been instrumental in misguiding and negatively influencing young individuals, and it further points out instances where youngsters have tragically lost their lives in pursuit of creating videos for TikTok.
Emphasizing the constitutional aspect, the plea invokes Article 5 of the Constitution, which emphasizes every citizen’s responsibility to exhibit allegiance to the state. The plea draws attention to the fact that several nations have opted to ban TikTok in response to analogous concerns.
It is noteworthy that TikTok has faced intermittent bans in Pakistan over time, albeit of brief duration, due to a variety of reasons.
