When TikTok was announced to be banned by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the news impacted thousands of content creators on the online application who had made their income, fame and livelihood through it. However, with negotiations by TikTok’s management, a petition filed against the ban in the Islamabad High Court, and pushback from several segments of civil society, which argue that the ban is a breach of freedom of speech, there are hopeful signs that the decision might be reversed.
The biggest reason probably is TikTok’s willingness to cooperate. TikTok management yesterday claimed that it continues to engage with the PTA to demonstrate its commitment to comply with local laws and further enhance its content moderation capacity. The fact that TikTok is willing to moderate its content reflects how arbitrary and sudden the government’s ban was—such actions prove a burden to the country’s image to future investors, as well as on our ease of doing business rankings. It must be appreciated that despite the failure of the government to notify TikTok or to explain the reasons behind the ban, the company is still willing to negotiate and change policy for the government. It would be a failure in regulation if the PTA does not try to negotiate with TikTok, which has provided a platform for a huge part of our population which did not have the means to navigate through social media before. The Court’s taking up of a petition contending that the PTA actions were in violation of Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, will also further amplify pressure on the authority to reconsider the ban.
Bans can be made—but only under exceptional circumstances. At the very least, they must be thoroughly considered and thought out, and the reasons behind it should be explained to the investors and people likely to be impacted by the ban. It is hoped these developments will lead the PTA to reconsider its prohibition of the online application.