TikTok in Pakistan is no longer the same so-called ‘cringe’ app it was widely perceived as a few years ago.

It has now deeply pervaded other social media apps — as content creators regularly share their TikTok shenanigans on Instagram, users on Twitter (now X) often stumble across a political edit, and WhatsApp statuses are not spared of the platform’s presence either.

The increase in Pakistan’s young population means that the country’s social media landscape is not only transforming rapidly but also influencing the government’s approach towards it.

Over 30.5 per cent of Pakistan’s population is aged 13 to 29, according to the 2023 census figures published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Meanwhile, more than 44pc of eligible voters are aged 18 to 35.

With a youth well aware of the country’s multidimensional crises, the social media they often use is brimming with political discourse and views, which may vex the political dispensation. The current civilian and military leadership have already voiced their concerns multiple times.

TikTok, which has faced four bans within a year over “immoral content”, can hardly afford to be lax when it comes to moderating content on its platform.

Fahad Khan Niazi, the head of public policy and government relations at TikTok Pakistan, briefed Dawn.com about the platform’s moderation process and guidelines in an email interview.

In March, Niazi had met with the minister of state for IT, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, where she had urged TikTok to play an “important role in promoting a positive image of Pakistan”.

Speaking about the extensive efforts made to maintain the platform’s content moderation mechanisms, Niazi told Dawn.com that TikTok has more than 40,000 trust and safety professionals working globally.

He said the platform uses a “combination of technologies and moderation teams to detect, review, and where appropriate, remove content or accounts that violate” its Community Guidelines.

TikTok also has “Trust and Safety teams” who, with their clear understanding of nuances in Pakistan add regional context to how the site applies its policies and content policy enforcement.

“We cover more than 70 languages and dialects, including Urdu and other commonly spoken local languages,” Niazi highlighted.

According to TikTok’s Government Removal Requests Report for July- December 2023, Pakistan ranked sixth out of 72 countries in the number of government requests received to remove or restrict content or accounts.

While TikTok received a total of 303 such requests from Pakistan (each request may list multiple accounts/content), its scale could not be ascertained due to a lack of verified information about the number of TikTok users in Pakistan.

Interestingly, Pakistan took the top place among 72 countries in the number of content (not accounts) against which action was sought for July-Dec 2023.

A total of 15,397 “content” links were requested action against, out of which 12,392 were “actioned” for going against TikTok guidelines while 2,126 were actioned for violating local laws.

The figure below shows a comparison of the content requests made from 2021-2023, with a breakdown of why they were taken action against.

A total of 488 accounts were requested during six months, out of which action was taken on 270 for going against TikTok guidelines while another 59 were “actioned” due to local laws’ violation.

The removal rate — or the percentage of requests accepted for both content and accounts combined — was 93.5 per cent, ranking 10th among countries that made 10 or more requests.

Govt requests vs user rights

Niazi explained that TikTok takes action against content based on two main criteria — if the material was either found to be against the platform’s Community Guidelines or Pakistani laws.

While content against the platform’s rules would be taken down, posts that violate Pakistani laws would likely be made unavailable to the country’s users.

If against local laws but not TikTok’s guidelines, the platform “may restrict the availability of the reported content in the market (country) where it is considered to be illegal”, Niazi explained.

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He further said that if the request to remove content was “not legally valid” or the specified content did not violate the Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, or applicable law, TikTok “will reject the request and take no action”.

Asked if the platform was now more compliant with the government’s content removal requests after facing multiple bans, Niazi stressed TikTok’s commitment to “working alongside governments and regulators across the world to ensure that the platform remains a safe space”.

Responding to a question about TikTok’s procedure for processing ‘information requests’ from governments, Niazi reiterated the platform adheres to its Law Enforcement Guidelines.

The guidelines assure users that requests seeking users’ data that go against TikTok’s policies and procedures will be rejected.

Niazi highlighted the platform’s statement on ‘Upholding human rights’ which states that in cases where a government request’s validity was seen as “insufficient”, TikTok would “explore legal means to push back against requests that may undermine international law and international human rights standards”.

However, he added, if an emergency request was believed to involve “imminent harm or the risk of death or serious physical injury to a person”, TikTok may provide “user data necessary to prevent that harm”.

Politik(tok)

The leaders of this country often speak with fervour about how social media may spread “hatred” and “distorted traditions” among the youth.

However, the public and a country’s events also carve out its social media landscape, rather than just the former being shaped by the online space.

The same happened in the wake of last year’s May 9 riots.

According to Abdul Moiz Malik’s analysis published in Dawn, TikTok — left unguarded while other apps were suppressed at the time — became the new frontier for political info-wars.

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Numbers showed that the PTI, thanks to rather frail efforts made by the PML-N, used TikTok to effectively take the lead in setting the narrative.

Over the past 15 months, the PTI’s following on TikTok has more than doubled from three million to 6.8m. While the PML-N has seen an exponential increase from around 41,300 to 1.4m, the numbers fail even to be a quarter of its arch-rival.

The third major political party, the PPP, has a seemingly unofficial account, which has been active since at least December 2022 but has been able to gather only around 125,000 followers.

Interestingly, both the PPP and the PML-N have had their account active since the latter half of 2022 — when the devastating floods had the then-coalition government caught up in aid and rescue efforts.

As political parties venture into the realm of TikTok, how does the platform deal with the challenges it poses? How does it prevent users from believing in and amplifying misinformation that parties may peddle? How does it keep itself safe from election scandals?

That’s where TikTok’s policy of classifying accounts related to political individuals as Government, Politician, and Political Party Accounts (GPPPAs) comes in.

“We do not allow political advertising, including both paid ads and creators being paid to make branded political content,” Niazi says, explaining the policy for GPPPAs.

Besides the usual content moderation practices, such accounts have various restrictions imposed on them to curtail political advertising and misuse of those tools.

This is in contrast to Twitter’s policy (now X) which allows political ads as long as they comply with local laws. Then, with the PTI being a prime example here, how do political parties amass extensive engagement on TikTok?

This is simply because “TikTok users are free to repost and share GPPPA content wherever they like”, as per its website.

“Users can share political content organically as long as it is in line with our Community Guidelines,” Niazi says.

“We believe people should be able to express themselves creatively and be entertained in a safe and welcoming environment,” he adds.

Of course, political content is not just limited to what TikTok has categorised as GPPPAs. Views expressed by Pakistanis — not to forget “fan edits” of politicians that even flood Twitter — make up the major chunk of political content on the platform.

This may raise concerns about the government cracking down on content that it may deem harmful to its image. Such concerns are validated by the prolonged ban on X and fellow South Asian countries cracking down on social media.

Clarifying the matter, Niazi said TikTok followed the same moderation rules as for government requests — meaning action would only be taken if the material violated TikTok’s guidelines or the local laws.

The sword of local laws

Now, what if local laws — which TikTok is to abide by — are what the government arms itself with to achieve its barely well-intended aims?

In July 2023, the PML-N-led coalition government came up with Draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2023, raising concerns from various digital bodies.

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Section 31(2) of the proposed bill requires organisations and businesses that handle “critical personal data” to process and store such information within servers located in the country, Shumaila Shahani writes in a Prism piece.

She details why the government wants to localise data storage and how it has led to data privacy concerns.

“We store the personal data of our Pakistani users […] in servers located in the USA, Ireland, Singapore, and Malaysia,” Niazi told Dawn.com, listing all locations of TikTok’s data centres.

“TikTok’s second Europe-based data centre in Norway will come online later in 2024,” he added. Niazi further said that the platform also had “world-class third-party data centre providers in the US and Singapore”.

While the data protection bill was approved by the then-federal cabinet, it has not been made into law by the parliament yet. However, the sword hangs over the head as a “final” round of consultations was held last month over data localisation plans.

Commenting on data localisation, Carbon Law founder Mubariz Siddiqui told DawnNews English that a “blanket clause” allows the government to request a proposed commission for “any data that they feel is in either the national interest or is important”.

“And that company will have to share it,” the law expert added, pointing out that the government could even include the local city council based on the definition.

So the question arises: if the bill is enacted into law, how willing is TikTok to establish data centres in Pakistan?

Responding to the question, Niazi said: “While the TikTok platform is global, we take a local approach to regulatory compliance, working with stakeholders to ensure we understand our regulatory requirements, including the draft Personal Data Protection Bill.”

The official affirmed TikTok’s commitment to be a “trusted and reliable partner through transparency and engagement with stakeholders”.

“The privacy and security of our community is a top priority for TikTok and we are committed to providing a safe and protected platform for our users,” Niazi asserted.

With the government seeming a bit too comfortable with rushing various legislation through the parliament, it may not be long before the data protection bill is proceeded ahead with. It remains to be seen if and when the bill becomes law, how social media apps would respond to its requirements.

Header image: — Illustration via Canva AI