Fact Check: Pak has not banned TikTokers from Punjab parks to prevent molestation
The assault of a woman TikToker in Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan on 14 August, Pakistan’s Independence Day, caused an uproar in the country and on social media.
By Nivruthi Pasupunuri Published on 29 Aug 2021 10:15 AM GMT
Hyderabad: The assault of a woman TikToker in Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan on 14 August, Pakistan's Independence Day, caused an uproar in the country and on social media. Following this, reports claiming that Punjab in Pakistan has banned TikTokers in parks to avoid similar incidents have been doing the rounds.
This claim has gone viral on several media platforms with as many as 13,000 likes.
Even India Today has reported that as a solution to mass molestation, Pakistan has decided to ban TikTokers in parks.
A YouTube channel, Ary News, also reported that TikTokers are banned from Punjab parks.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
There has been an outpour of sympathy and anger over the Minar-e-Pakistan incident where a woman TikToker was openly molested. This led to several reports claiming that TikTokers have been banned in parks as a deterrent to any such events in the future.
However, Azhar Mashwani, the official focal person for digital media of Punjab's Chief Minister, in a reply to the same assertion, tweeted that this news is fake and that no such decision has been taken by the Punjab government. TikTok is currently banned in Pakistan, he added.
Reports by Pakistani news agencies said the Punjab Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) director-general Jawad Ahmad Qureshi has also said that no written notification was issued banning female TikTokers from parks.
A report by the popular news agency Dawn said that although there were reports circulating of stricter orders, these orders required prior permission to shoot with a cleared script and did not talk about banning TikTokers' entry to parks. Further, there were ideas of security personnel monitoring TikTokers and other content creators but an outright ban never took place.
Three days after posting the YouTube video claiming Punjab had banned TikTokers from parks, Ary News on 25 August reported that this news was fake.
It is clear that there has been no ban on TikTokers' entry to parks in Pakistan's Punjab. Hence, the news is fake.
