ISLAMABAD: The chief of Pakistan鈥檚 telecom watchdog on Monday recommended that social media users posting 鈥渋nappropriate content and videos鈥� on video streaming app TikTok should be arrested. 
Wildly popular among Pakistani youth, the Chinese-owned app has been shut down by authorities multiple times since last year over 鈥渋ndecent鈥� content, forcing the company to pledge to moderate uploads.
Freedom of speech advocates have long criticized what they call 鈥渃reeping鈥� government censorship and control of Pakistan鈥檚 Internet and media, which authorities deny. Dating apps have been blocked and last year Pakistani regulators asked YouTube to immediately block all videos they considered 鈥渙bjectionable鈥� from being accessed in the country, a demand criticized by rights campaigners.
Amir Azeem Bajwa, the chief of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said social media in Pakistan should be controlled according to the norms and values of the society in which it operated. 
鈥淭ikTok cannot stop anyone from uploading a video, therefore, the individuals frequently posting inappropriate content and videos on the site should be arrested,鈥� he said at a press conference in Islamabad.
Bajwa said the site has been blocked four times in Pakistan but 鈥渋nappropriate and objectionable content鈥� continued to be shared on the application.
PTA had recently received at least 1.1 million complaints against inappropriate content and blocked over 1.046 million reported links and websites, he said, suggesting that TikTok administrators should take satisfactory measures according to Pakistan鈥檚 terms and conditions for social media use.
The statement by the PTA chief came as hundreds of journalists camped outside Pakistan鈥檚 parliament on Monday to protest a proposed media law that seeks to create a new regulator and set up special tribunals to try media-related cases.
The protesters, which included journalists from all major Pakistani news channels and national and regional newspapers as well as from media outlets in the provinces, converged in front of parliament under the banner of a federal body for the rights of journalists, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). Prime Minister Imran Khan鈥檚 government backs the proposed regulator, saying it is meant for the protection of journalists and to combat misinformation.