TikTok says took down 20 million videos in Pakistan this year for violating guidelines
TikTok says took down 20 million videos in Pakistan this year for violating guidelines/node/2545731/pakistan
TikTok says took down 20 million videos in Pakistan this year for violating guidelines
This photograph taken on April 11, 2024, in Paris, shows the logo of the Chinese social network application TikTok Lite displayed in Apple's App Store. (AFP/File)
KARACHI: Video-sharing platform TikTok has taken down approximately 20 million videos in Pakistan for violating community guidelines, the company said on Monday, underscoring its resolve to effectively combat violations.
TikTok, a social media app that allows users to create and share short-form videos, made the disclosure in its report for the first quarter of the year. The platform has become extremely popular among younger generations, with over a billion active users worldwide.
However, this is not the first time that TikTok has removed videos from Pakistan. In July 2023, the video-sharing app had taken action against 11.7 million videos from Pakistan for the same reason.
“In Pakistan alone, the platform took action against 20,207,878 videos for breaching its community guidelines in the first quarter,” TikTok said in a statement on Monday, following the release of its Community Guidelines Enforcement Report 2024.
In the past, Pakistani authorities have banned the video-sharing service several times, with the first ban instituted in October 2020 over what was described as widespread complaints about allegedly “immoral, obscene, and vulgar” content on the app.
The service has been prohibited from operating in the country thrice more than 15 months since then. In November 2021, a Pakistani court finally reversed the ban after TikTok assured the government it would control the spread of objectionable content.
TikTok said the latest report highlighted the platform’s commitment to transparency, safety and inclusivity apart from how the company reflected its dedication to building trust and ensuring a safe platform for its global community.
The video platform removed 166,997,307 videos worldwide during the Jan-March period of 2024, of which 129,335,793 were identified through an automated detection technology, whereas 6,042,287 videos were reinstated, according to the report. The platform “removed and filtered” 976,479,946 comments also, using the safety tools.
“TikTok aggressively pursued spam accounts and related content, implementing robust measures to prevent the proliferation of automated spam accounts,” the company said, highlighting that 93.9 percent of videos violating guidelines were removed within 24 hours of posting with the removal rate resting at 99.8 percent globally.
TikTok also deleted 21,639,414 accounts suspected of belonging to children under the age of 13, the company said.
ISLAMABAD: Veteran Pakistani actress Ayesha Khan was found dead in her flat in Karachi this week, various news outlets reported on Friday as tributes poured in from colleagues who had worked with her.
As per reports in prominent Pakistani news websites such as The News, Geo.tv and other publications, 77-year-old Khan was found dead in her flat in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal area on Thursday. Quoting police, local media reports said Khan’s body seemed to be around a week old when it was found, adding that the actress was living alone.
Khan starred in several high-profile Pakistani drama serials such as “Afshan,” “Uroosa,” “Aanch,” “Bandhan” and “Shaam Se Pehle.” Fellow actors and colleagues paid tribute to the actress as news of her death spread.
Prominent actor Adnan Siddiqui recalled working alongside Khan in Uroosa, which was his first drama serial.
“She was my on-screen mother but brought a compassion reminiscent of a maternal figure, a presence that soothed, grounded and made a space feel more human,” Siddiqui wrote on Instagram.
Siddiqui said Khan was never loud but rather calm and let her “acting do the talking.”
“Ayesha jee wasn’t just an actor; she was an atmosphere. And her absence will be deeply felt,” he wrote.
“Devastating. Rest in peace, Ayesha ji,” Pakistani actress Anoushay Abbasi wrote beneath Siddiqui’s post.
As per Geo News, Khan’s body was discovered when her neighbors informed her family about a “foul smell” emitting from the actress’ apartment.
“After being informed, police rushed to the scene and shifted her body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center for medico-legal formalities,” the report said. It added that police said a post-mortem would be conducted if requested by the family.
Later, Khan’s body was shifted to Edhi Foundation’s mortuary in Karachi’s Sohrab Goth area, the report stated.
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) performed over 4,484 successful eye surgeries across Pakistan under a voluntary program to provide free medical services to the underprivileged, state-run media reported this week.
The state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) reported on Thursday that KSrelief successfully concluded 11 comprehensive eye treatment camps in Pakistan under the “Noor Saudi Volunteer Program 2025.” These camps, PTV said, were organized in collaboration with the Al-Basar International Foundation and Ibrahim Eye Hospital Karachi.
The camps were held to provide free medical services to underprivileged individuals suffering from blindness or other eye-related ailments, it added. These camps were organized in both the urban and rural areas of Pakistan’s Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir regions where access to quality eye care services remains limited, PTV said.
“During the campaign, medical teams examined a total of 43,294 patients and performed over 4,484 successful surgeries,” the state television said. “Additionally, 11,050 eyeglasses were distributed free of charge, along with the provision of prescribed medications to deserving patients.”
It said these camps were conducted in various Pakistani cities such as Karachi, Matli, Kandhkot, Shikarpur, Hyderabad, Naseerabad, Kharan, Khuzdar, Jhelum and Rawalakot. The camps enabled thousands of patients to benefit from specialized eye treatments due to which many were able to regain their vision.
“This initiative reflects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s strong humanitarian commitment and its dedication to enhancing the lives of people affected by visual impairments,” PTV said.
KSrelief has implemented hundreds of projects in Pakistan worth millions of dollars to improve the lives of vulnerable communities. Efforts include emergency relief for natural disasters, and long-term projects addressing food security, health care, education, and shelter.
The Saudi charity organization has one of the largest humanitarian budgets available to any aid agency across the world, which has allowed its officials to undertake a wide variety of projects in more than 80 countries. Pakistan is the fifth largest beneficiary of its aid and humanitarian activities and has greatly benefited from its assistance since the 2022 monsoon floods.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s defense minister has described the country’s governance as a “hybrid model” in which military and civilian leaders share power — an open secret in political circles but a rare public admission by a serving official that has taken on added significance amid the army chief’s solo visit to the United States and an unprecedented meeting with President Donald Trump.
Officials have presented Field Marshal Asim Munir’s trip as an effort to bolster security ties with Washington, particularly in light of last month’s military standoff with India and escalating hostilities in the Middle East. But the army chief’s meeting with Trump — without Pakistan’s prime minister or foreign minister present — has also drawn renewed attention to how much Islamabad relies on its army to handle high-stakes foreign relations, economic ties and sensitive regional issues.
The chief’s visit comes on the heels of the most serious clash in years between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India in which they exchanged drone, missile and artillery fire until a ceasefire brokered by Washington on May 10 brought an end to hostilities. Pakistan has declared victory in the confrontation, saying it downed six Indian fighter jets and struck military facilities. Munir’s leadership during the crisis has won him a rare promotion to field marshal and broad public support, reinforcing the military’s standing as one of the country’s most influential institutions despite past criticism of its outsized role in politics.
In an interview this week conducted as the army chief visited the United States for talks with Trump, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif acknowledged that the military’s prestige had “skyrocketed” after the conflict with India, calling it a “blessing in disguise,” but rejected that this would erode democratic authority or give the army unchecked control.
“No, it doesn’t worry me,” he told Arab News when asked if Pakistan’s history of direct and indirect military rule made him uneasy about the army’s stronger image.
“This is a hybrid model. It’s not an ideal democratic government … So, this arrangement, the hybrid arrangement, I think [it] is doing wonders,” Asif said, adding that the system was a practical necessity until Pakistan was “out of the woods as far as economic and governance problems are concerned.”
Commuters ride past a billboard with portraits of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (2L), Navy Chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf (3L), Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir (C), Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Baber (3R) and Chief Minister of the country's Punjab province Maryam Nawaz Sharif (2R), displayed along a street in Lahore on May 24, 2025. (AFP)
The long-running political instability and behind-the-scenes military influence in earlier decades had slowed democratic development, the defense chief argued, but the current arrangement had improved coordination.
Pakistan’s military has played a central role in national affairs since independence in 1947, including periods of direct rule after coups in 1958, 1977 and 1999, when General Pervez Musharraf toppled then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Musharraf ruled until 2008 when elections restored civilian governance. Even under elected governments, however, the army is widely considered the invisible guiding hand in politics and in shaping foreign policy, security strategy, and often key aspects of governance.
“If this sort of [hybrid] model was adopted way back in the 90s, things would have been much, much better,” Asif said, “because the confrontation between [military] establishment and the political government, it actually retarded the progress of our democracy.”
By contrast, he said, the current “de facto” hybrid arrangement had brought the army and elected leaders together on joint forums such as the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military body tasked with setting and managing economic priorities jointly and overseeing big-ticket investments and trade reforms.
“We have common platforms, like SIFC and other platforms, where military leadership and civilian leadership, they sit together and decide about the business,” Asif said. “So, this is something which is a de facto arrangement and it’s working very well.”
The military’s media wing did not respond to a request for comments.
“TOTAL AGREEMENT”
Asif’s remarks about power-sharing with the army on an ever-expanding policy portfolio appear particularly relevant after Munir’s rare White House meeting with Trump on Wednesday, the first time in years that a Pakistani army chief was received by a sitting US president without civilian leadership present.
Munir was accompanied by National Security Adviser Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik, Pakistan’s serving intelligence chief who now also holds the national security portfolio. This too is a first for the country: that a sitting ISI director general is serving as NSA.
According to a statement from ISPR, the military’s public relations wing, the Munir-Trump meeting lasted two hours instead of the scheduled one, and covered not only security cooperation and the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict but also wider collaboration in “trade, economic development, mines and minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, cryptocurrency, and emerging technologies.”
These are areas traditionally handled by civilian ministries.
While independent analysts say this reflects the military’s increasingly visible role in economic and financial initiatives and could permanently weaken civilian supremacy in these domains, Asif insisted PM Sharif remained firmly in charge of key decisions:
“It’s something mutual, we have a co-ownership of the power structure …
“There is no superimposed system or superimposed organization on Shehbaz Sharif which dictates him and he acts accordingly … [He] is making his decisions independently and obviously he is in regular consultation with the establishment on all levels.”
But were there “crisis moments” in the relationships when the prime minister had not prevailed over the army chief in decision-making?
Asif responded:
“Believe me, very honestly, we haven’t had any moment where decisions were not made unanimously with total agreement. Things are moving very smoothly. And god willing, one day we will achieve the sort of democracy which is needed by our country.”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast pre-monsoon rains across various parts of the country from today, Friday, warning of possible urban flooding and infrastructure damage in several regions.
The alert comes as Pakistan braces for another season of extreme weather, following deadly heatwaves and catastrophic floods in recent years.
Ranked among the ten most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, Pakistan is ramping up preparedness efforts, especially in Punjab, where authorities expect significantly above-average rainfall this monsoon.
“Pre-monsoon rains are predicted in the country from June 20-23 with occasional gaps,” the PMD said in its advisory issued on Thursday. “Moist currents from Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea are penetrating upper and central parts of the country and a westerly wave is also likely to approach upper parts on June 20.”
The department said dust storms, rain with wind and thundershowers, including isolated heavy rainfall and hailstorms, were expected in parts of Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and numerous districts of Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Affected areas include Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Chitral, Abbottabad and Waziristan among others.
Similar conditions were also forecast for Sukkur, Larkana, Dadu, and Jacobabad in Sindh province from June 22 to 24.
PMD cautioned that such weather could damage loose infrastructure such as electric poles, trees, vehicles and solar panels, particularly in upper and central regions including Islamabad.
It added that intense heat was expected to ease gradually over the forecast period, advising farmers to plan agricultural activities accordingly.
PMD also warned urban flooding could occur in Lahore, Gujranwala and the Islamabad-Rawalpindi region.
Authorities have urged the public, travelers and tourists to exercise caution.
ABOVE-NORMAL RAINFALL
Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Punjab said on Thursday the province was likely to experience 25 percent more rainfall this monsoon season, with northeastern districts expected to receive 40 percent to 60 percent above-normal rainfall.
“This projection necessitates proactive and coordinated efforts to mitigate risks associated with urban and riverine flooding,” the authority said, adding that all necessary arrangements had been completed to respond to any emergencies.
The provincial government has begun distributing pamphlets to raise public awareness about the dangers of floods, heavy rains and strong winds.
Pakistan experienced devastating floods in 2022 that left more than 1,700 people dead and displaced over 33 million across the country.
Experts described the disaster as a consequence of climate change, after floodwaters destroyed homes, farmland, and public infrastructure, causing financial losses exceeding $35 billion.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has recorded a 99% decline in polio cases, Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal told the Gavi board meeting on Thursday, calling for more investments to "train and retain" vaccinators.
The global vaccine organization Gavi helps low-income countries buy vaccines to protect against killer diseases. Around one billion children have been immunized as a result of Gavi’s work across the world since 2000.
Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure, making prevention through vaccination critical. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine, along with the completion of the routine immunization schedule for all children, are essential to build strong immunity against the virus.
According to Pakistan’s polio program, 10 cases have been confirmed so far this year, with 74 reported in 2024.
Environmental surveillance carried out earlier this year has detected the virus in 272 sewage samples collected from 127 testing sites across 68 districts, indicating ongoing transmission.
"Pakistan has witnessed over a 99% decline in polio cases — a testament to our coordinated strategy, dedication of frontline workers and the collective efforts of all stakeholders," the health ministry quoted Kamal as saying following a virtual joint session of Gavi and Pakistan's Polio Oversight Board.
However, the statement did not specify the starting point for this decline.
"Strengthening the integrated immunization system requires continued support from both Gavi and the Polio Oversight Board,” he added. “We need additional investments to ensure the training and retention of vaccinators."
He called for implementing a joint strategy to reach zero-dose children and mobilizing biker teams to access far-flung areas.
The health minister said "coordinated microplanning and effective monitoring" between polio and the Expanded Program on Immunization was improving immunization coverage and delivering results.
Kamal said polio eradication remained the government's top priority, highlighting how Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif personally oversees the eradication efforts.
Pakistan, one of the last two countries where polio remains endemic, has made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018.
The country reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan launched its polio eradication program in 1994, but efforts have repeatedly been hindered by widespread vaccine misinformation and resistance from hardline religious groups who claim immunization campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children or a front for espionage.
Militant groups have also targeted polio workers and their security escorts, often with deadly attacks that have hampered vaccination drives, particularly in the country’s remote and conflict-prone regions.
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the poliovirus remains endemic.
