Petition filed against ‘vulgar’ TikTok in Lahore High Court Pakistan

A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court against TikTok, a mobile application commonly used by teenagers to make and share videos. 

The petition was filed by a lawyer, Nadeem Sarwar, on August 3 and calls TikTok “a great mischief of modern times”.

It says the app is “destroying the youth” and forcing them to be “selfish” and “go to any lengths to get fame”.

“They are not only wasting their precious time with this nonsense but are also crossing all limits of morality. This can be seen when the guys in the videos are made up like girls, which is shameful and one of the many signs of doomsday,” writes Sarwar in his petition.

It also claimed that “TikTok is promoting same sex relationships or ‘gayism’” but did not explain how. “Girls dressed up in minimal clothing and videos full of trash talk can be found commonly which no religion nor morality can support,” the petition reads.

It also lists downsides of the app being social isolation, wastage of time, energy and money. “Isn’t it too much to put in just to entertain an audience with the risk that they may or may not like what you have to offer? And when in actual you get nothing at all in return,” reads its explanation on how it is a waste of time and money.

The petition also claims TikTok is a source of nudity, harassment and blackmailing. It also has psychological impacts, according to the petitioner, like narcissism, self inflicting pain, depression and attention seeking.

It said the app had been banned in Bangladesh and Malaysia and that it “degraded culture and encouraged pornography”.

“It is against the social and moral well-being of the citizen and the Constitution imposes a heavy duty upon the state to secure the well-being of the people of Pakistan,” reads the petition.

The petition asks the court to do three things: ensure legislation to protect children in cyberspace, ban TikTok and stop its videos from being telecast.

Sarwar told SAMAA Digital that the basic need for filing the writ petition is inappropriate content on TikTok. The app promotes nudity, obscenity, indecency and vulgarity, he said.