Pakistan set to block Chinese app TikTok for 'immoral' content

TikTok, TikTok. Time is ticking for the ByteDance-owned app in Pakistan too, which has decided to block the video-sharing application after the company failed to moderate its "unlawful online content."

A top Pakistan official told Reuters that the app had failed to comply with the authority's repeated instructions to develop an effective mechanism for "blocking immoral and indecent content".

The blow to TikTok, which could however prove temporary at least in Pakistan, comes amid ongoing talks with US on its survival there. 

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Only a month ago, the social media app was set to be banned by the Trump administration citing national security. 

A US government order had sought to ban new downloads of the Chinese-owned app but allowed the use of TikTok app until November 12.

A stay from a federal court on Trump's download ban is the lifeline the app has in US at the moment. 

India, its biggest overseas market, had banned the ByteDance-owned App in late June along with 58 other apps citing threat to India's sovereignty and security.

There were 200 million users in India which raised concerns over possible data collection by Chinese authorities. 

Earlier, TikTok had claimed that they purged more than 104.5 million videos from its platform in the first half of this year (the pre-ban period) for violating community guidelines. A majority of these videos - 37.68 million - were said to be from India.