This marks the fifth time since October last year that the application has been blocked under the Cybercrime Act.

The PTA said it asked Tik Tok to find an effective way to moderate "unlawful" online content but because the platform did not comply, the PTA took this action, their press release states.

The first ban was in October 2020 but it was reversed in 10 days. The app was also banned on the orders of the Peshawar High Court but the decision was also reversed after three weeks. The last ban was in June, ordered by the Sindh High Court, but the decision was reversed in four days after PTA said it would monitor objectionable content more diligently.

PTA claims it has removed around 6 million videos in the first three months of this year, for sexual and nude content.

Earlier this month President Arif Alvi joined Tik Tok and Images asked whether this would stop PTA from banning the popular app. It appears not.

This time it's unclear how long they will enforce the ban.