Pakistan's telecom regulator has again blocked the Chinese-owned video app TikTok after a court ordered it shut down for spreading indecent content.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on March 11 that it had blocked TikTok in compliance with the orders of the Peshawar High Court in the northwest of the conservative Muslim country.
The Peshawar High Court said it issued the order in response to a private petition requesting the video-sharing platform be blocked until it complies with instructions and guidelines the media regulatory agency gave last year.
In October, the PTA banned the app but then lifted restrictions after 10 days after TikTok pledged to block all accounts involved in spreading "obscenity and immorality."
TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, has come under increasing scrutiny as its popularity surged across the world, including among Pakistani youth.
TikTok is the third-most downloaded app after WhatsApp and Facebook. It has been downloaded almost 39 million times in Pakistan.
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