Taliban to block ‘immoral’ TikTok and PUBG ‘within a month’

The Taliban is outlawing a hugely popular social media app and video game this month – but there’s calls for The West to do the same.

The Taliban will axe social media platform TikTok “within a month”, with a further ban on a popular online video game following soon after.

Afghan news agency The Khaama Press reported the announcement was made by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Telecommunication on Saturday.

Following a meeting with the security sector and a representative from the Sharia law enforcement administration, the ministry confirmed both TikTok and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) phone applications will be banned in Afghanistan within 90 days.

The Taliban has given telcos 90 days to bock the PUBG Mobile app, and just a month to block TikTok. Picture: Mohsen Karimi / AFP

The logistics of the ban will reportedly be left in the hands of telecommunication and internet service providers which have a month deadline to ban TikTok and 90 days to ban PUBG.

The intention to ban both applications was first raised on April this year with the Taliban stating the bans were to “prevent the younger generation from being misled”.

Director of Afghanistan’s Media and Information Centre tweeted in April: “The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology is obliged to block the game PUBG and the application called TikTok, which causes the young generation to go astray.

“In the same way, prevent those channels that publish immoral materials and programs as much as possible,” he said in the tweet translated to English.

However, Afghanistan is far from the first country to take actions against both platforms.

TikTok, among 58 other Chinese apps, was banned completely in India by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in June 2020.

Many Chinese apps ahve been banned in India. Picture: Prakash Singh / AFP

A statement from India’s Ministry of Information Technology claimed the apps, including TikTok, were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

Even the West has seriously considered banning TikTok with former US President Donald Trump in 2020 invoking his emergency economic powers to impose broad sanctions against the app and proposing a ban.

Trump had serious fears about TikTok and national security in the US. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

The executive order sought to ban new downloads of platform and outlaw any transactions between TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens for national security reasons.

“These risks are real. The Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, and the United States Armed Forces have already banned the use of TikTok on Federal Government phones,” he wrote in a statement.

“American companies and organisations have begun banning TikTok on their devices.

“The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security.”

However lengthy legal challenges meant a ban nor sanctions ever saw the light of day – and Trump’s push for a TikTok ban was officially dropped in June 2021 by the Biden administration.

The US has had serious discussions about banning TikTok in recent years but the Biden administration has ruled out a ban for now. Picture: Denis Charlet / AFP

Even Australia’s opposition cyber security and countering foreign interference spokesman James Paterson believes Australia should consider banning the platform after it was revealed the app captured users’ every keystroke – including potentially passwords and credit card details.

“If the government can’t solve it (national security concerns regarding social media platforms) any other way, then a ban should be on the table,” he told The Oz in August.

Liberal senator James Paterson hopes Australia will consider a TikTok ban if security concerns cannot be mitigated. Picture: Aaron Francis

“I think the geopolitical environment which we are in puts an extra impetus on addressing this now- we don’t want to wake up in a conflict scenario and think we need to protect our cyber security. If god forbid the worst happens we need to be sure we’re in a secure cybersecurity position.”

Indonesia, Bangladesh and Syria have also all banned TikTok with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Syria all imposing serious restrictions and censors.

The Russian government severely restricted TikTok earlier this year, as well as completely blocking Facebook and Twitter, in light of the war in Ukraine.

TikTok had 1.39 billion users as of August 2022.

An estimated 30 million people worldwide interact and battle on the PUBG Mobile app. Picture: Mohd Rasfan / AFP)

PUBG Mobile, a hugely popular multiplayer first-person shooter, hosts an estimated 30 million players. It lost half its user base when it too was banned India and Pakistan.

The Taliban, considered a hard line Islamist group, retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, after being removed from power by a US-led military coalition in 2001.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan shortly after US and coalition forces left in August 2021.

The Taliban have banned girls secondary school education. Picture: AFP

Just over a year into it’s return to governance, the Taliban has been accused of numerous human rights violations including unlawful killings, forced displacement and evictions and abuse of women’s and girls’ rights, among others.