Pakistan blocks Tinder, other dating apps citing ‘immoral’ content

Pakistan on Tuesday blocked access to several dating apps, including Tinder, in a bid to control ‘immoral’ and ‘indecent’ content. The move comes days after the country warned regulators to shut down YouTube, for similar reasons, reported AFP.

Pakistani users were barred from accessing Tinder, Grindr, SayHi, Tagged and Skout after the social networking apps failed to ‘moderate… content in accordance’ with the country’s law, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said.

The PTA said the ban addressed the “negative effects of immoral/indecent content”.

Shahzad Ahmad, director of digital rights group Bytes For All, slammed the PTA’s “moral policing” and told AFP that if adults choose to be on an app, it is not for the state to dictate whether they should use it or not. Ahmad said the ban is “a completely ridiculous move” and people would find ways to circumvent.

The PTA said the apps could request to have their blocks lifted if they show they are “moderating the indecent/immoral content through meaningful engagement”.

The regulator did not specify what it meant by that engagement.

Last week, the PTA asked YouTube to immediately block all videos they consider “objectionable” from being accessed in the country. The authorities in July had issued a final warning to the Chinese-owned video making app TikTok, ordering it to filter obscene content.