Pakistan's TikTok ban: the war on content policies & morals

We are constantly trapped in a battle between censorship & morals. 

On October 10th, PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) finally banned TikTok, the famous video-sharing, social networking app, citing reasons of showcasing “vulgar, indecent/immoral content on the app and its negative effects on Pakistani society". They banned an entire platform, over a handful of reasons.

But on October 19th, in an abrupt turn of events, PTA decided to reverse the TikTok ban, "after the Chinese-owned app committed to moderating content in accordance with local laws" (source: CNN). 

Wait. What local laws? 

Laws belonging to a country that decrees the only way to file a rape accusation is if four adult male witnesses are present at the location of the rape? Laws in a country which decrees that Ahmedis are non-muslim?

Whatever the drama was, the initial ban enraged me. Not because I was an active TikTok user, but because what this meant for the Pakistani masses - the underprivileged, mainly lower socioeconomic classes, who had embraced this platform with excitement, to showcase their talents. Pakistan is TikTok's 12th largest market, but it was more than that. It was a platform that empowered these people; it was a means of income, & monetising it meant revenue generation & so much more. It was an outlet for activism & releasing frustration against social or political issues, state-led policies, voicing opinions, & above all, personal creativity (highly entertaining stuff). It was a diversion from the mundane, horrifying reality of the dark things happening in our society - whether in social issues, or politics. It was in a way, a kind of revolt. Yet it was a platform, that everyone could actually relate to, unlike Instagram, Twitter or Facebook - which are more 'reserved' for the more well educated, influencers (how I hate that word) or 'social elite'. As Dawn so aptly put it - "In many ways, the popularity of the app here was a celebration of how internet and mobile phone penetration can democratise a society".

Banning is a superficial solution. Instead, "inappropriate" content could be filtered out, but let the content creators remain on the platform while it was being done. I don't understand why this wasn't the state's strategy to begin with. If anything, the Pakistani government's objective was clear - there would be no escape without content moderation. The question was, whose responsibility is it to moderate such content? TikTok's? The community's? The government's? 

What did PTA deem "provocative", & "immoral"? Why? Aren't morals & values subjective? 

What exactly was the content even being broadcast? Because it was never made clear. 

The problem is, we live in a society where moral policing has become the norm, in particularly of those who stand up for their own & others' rights. As a conservative country where Islamic laws prevails, we have become even more conservative & frustrated over time. We ostracise marginalised groups of society such as journalists, transgenders, Ahmedis & rape victims - to name a few. We shun the Malalas, the Qandeel Balochs, the Salman Taseers, the Asma Jehangirs & the Julie Khans, indoctrinating ourselves to be so critical of their actions & perspectives, fearing their criticisms & boldness will threaten the society's moral fabric & religious beliefs. And we kill freedom of speech, through these grotesque actions. As a nation, we accept legislation on certain issues instead of challenging it, never bothering to consider how this will not dismantle decades of stigma & prejudice - but instead, worsen it. 

The truth is, it cannot. Millions of youngsters already utilise platforms like TikTok to be seen & heard - and so, censorship is not a sustainable solution. 

There is a famous saying that a tool is only as good as the person using it. The way I see it, is that TikTok, as a platform, is a form of discourse; it's a tool. But so are policies. I'm a strong believer that policy design is instrumental in content moderation, given that TikTok's objective is to "create a safe & positive community". But this needs to go hand in hand with education. If anything, efforts should be restructured to educate the masses on the community guidelines upon onboarding the app. Localise these in Urdu so that the lower socioeconomic classes can understand. Clarify what is considered 'inappropriate'; & the rationale behind it - but first, seek to understand the kind of 'vicious' content from the users' perspective, & thus, the root of the issue; why else would they be engaging in it? What is their purpose? How can others be prevented from doing the same activities?

If we were to be critical on content moderation, thoroughly & specifically covering all aspects related to content policies may render them more credible - but again, 'thorough' is subjective. What to include? What to exclude? The public's mindsets change over time. The PTA cannot expect that such policies will magically put a stop to this user-generated content; hegemonisation of all sorts has already set in to the minds of many users. But, if enforced correctly, they may just result in a more compliant, safer online environment. The issue is not only the absence of content legislation or the capacity to implement it, that has been hindered by rampant, systemic corruption in Pakistan, but a failure from the state's side to recognise where such malicious content emerges from in society, where they make no efforts to prevent these from occurring - such as sexualisation of young boys. It's an environment where social realities are mirroring digital media content. How the government addresses 'immoral content' largely depends on how it perceives these activities - rather, the faultline then lies within an unstructured framework of governance & law-enforcement that takes a superficial birds' eye view as a solution, instead of tackling the root cause of the issue. And without such clarity, there are bound to be detrimental long term impacts on society, as well as for potential investors of Pakistan's tech/app sphere, where numerous startups are struggling to create innovative solutions to socio-economic or political problems around them.

 

Ban content - but within reason. Educate the masses. But don't ban an entire platform.