Kiss dating app goodbye, Pakistan.
This could be described as the country prohibited using five of the most popular dating apps, which include Tinder and Grindr, on the grounds of being “immoral and indecent content.”
Apart from the two previously mentioned apps, Pakistan’s national telecommunication department also blocked three apps: Tagged, Skout, and SayHi.
After the dating, the decision was determined, and live streaming apps went below the set standards and local laws.
In a statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority issued notices to the companies instructing them to block the dating services and filter moderate level live streaming content on their apps. With the non-compliance and reply to this — hence the block.
The watchdog mentioned that reconsideration can happen if apps adhere to local laws and moderate indecent and immoral content.
Even though Tinder and Grindr are popular in the United States and other Western countries, it had not given much friction to a religious-laden country like Pakistan.
From the reports of Sensor Tower, an analytics firm, in the last 12 months, there were 440,000 downloaded of Tinder vis-à-vis the 13 million times in the United States, which is also the same period.
“The largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people” Grindr, meanwhile, — obtained 300,000 times downloads versus the 2 million in the United States in the last year.
Moreover, the other remaining two Tagged and SayHi also garnered 300,000 times in Pakistan, and Skout amassed 100,000.
The Grindr’s chief operating officer Rick Marini was “deeply saddened” by the decision to ban them
“While we appreciate the broad discretion granted to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, we are exploring ways that we can be of service to the LGBTQ community in the region,” Marini quipped.
Tinder, which Matches owned, has no official notice and request for comment as of press time.
Meanwhile, the Meet Group, which owns Tagged, SayHi, and Scout, remained mum about this tip.
In a similar threat, this telecommunications agency has also attempted to block TikTok, the popular video-sharing app following the intense news of the ban in the United States
In July, the government authority released a “final warning” to TikTok over “immoral, obscene and vulgar content” found on the app. Last week.
The regulator and the senior management of TikTok, in a dialogue, said that while the app had taken down indecent content, it should put in place more vital content moderating to mitigate “unlawful material” isn’t accessible in Pakistan.
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