The ban brigade

The season of bans is on us. The question of who decides what is moral and what is not, has always been open to a great deal of debate in all societies. This debate has arisen again, strongly in our country, after the ban placed on the popular video social media TikTok by the PTA on Friday. The app was used essentially by less elite Pakistanis, and those from the middle class had over 20 million users in the country, according to the latest report from the makers of the app. The Pakistan government has said it was used for indecent purposes. The ban comes just weeks after the popular dating app, Tinder, and others similar to it were banned in the country.

But who is to decide what precisely is immoral? Is it not immoral to rape little girls or sodomise little boys Some label dancing, in any form, as an act which is immoral and indecent, going against our values. Others take pleasure in the sheer beauty of movement and the scale of proponents who excel in various forms of dance. The debate is an endless one. Great care needs to be taken when imposing any view of morality on an entire society. Tiktok had produced a great deal of talent in the form of comedians, who had millions of followers all over the country. Most of the users and followers of TikTok came from low income backgrounds, and many who ran their own videos on Tiktok would have no other platform on which to put forward their skills. The whole issue is an entirely questionable one. How far does the state have any right to infringe into the personal liberties of people? If the argument is that underage users were using Tiktok, it is a parental duty to prevent this and stop such activity which can be quite easily managed through filters and child-guarding apps of various kinds.

It is also the duty of parents to decide what is moral and permissible and what is not. Certainly, the state has no role in determining what is moral or what needs to be enforced upon us all as a society. This is a duty that should lie within the conscience of every individual and every family. It is perfectly possible to delete TikTok or never upload the app if one is uncomfortable with it. In the world of social media, everything can't be controlled. Surely individuals should be given the choice to do so rather than censoring their activities in this clumsy fashion – angering millions who have already begun to speak out. There is also the heartbreaking realisation that the state of Pakistan just does not care about the enormous talent that is so obvious on apps like TikTok, which are neither air-brushed nor carefully curated – but are the raw energy of the country's people. If the government has issues with what the 'awaam' thinks or does, we are not sure where exactly the problem really lies.