Grindr and Tinder Response on Apps Ban in Pakistan

Grindr said on Thursday, Pakistan’s decision to ban Grinder and four other dating apps like Tinder this week is extremely disappointed because they have been found to promote “immoral content.”

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) said on Tuesday it decided to ban “dating apps,” like Tinder, Grindr, Tagged, Skout, and SayHi apps to control live streams in compliance with local law.

“We are extremely disappointed by the decision to ban Grindr and other dating apps that allow Pakistani people to communicate with others on our platforms, ” Grindr’s COO Rick Marini said in an earlier report to Reuters. “Grinder explores ways how it can help the LGBTQ community in the country,” he said. “The American company, which identifies itself as the world’s largest social networking platform for homosexual, bisexual, transgender, and queers.

As extra-marital relationships and homosexuality are illegal in Pakistan, the second-largest Muslim-majority country in the world after Indonesia. A recent clampdown on online content by the PTA has also seen warnings given to other major platforms.

Also Read: Google is Updating Office Software

Grindr and other apps blocked by PTA due to immoral/indecent Content

In an e-mail response to Reuters, Tinder, an internationally popular app owned by Match Group, said that it is always ready to cooperate with regulators and law authorities.”We appreciate the chance to address with the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority our product and moderation activities and look forward to a meaningful dialogue,” said Tinder.

The Grindr announcement did not say whether they are going to speak to the Pakistani authorities about the issue further.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority announced On Wednesday, that for the second time in one week, the YouTube video-sharing site had been ordered to ban relevant videos for viewing in Pakistan by PTA. YouTube was banned for three years in Pakistan until 2016.

Blocking of content that was considered to violate decency and values is a form of placing pressure on social media platforms, according to Usama Khilji, director of BoloBhi, a Pakistani digital rights advocacy group, “to complying with government requests for user data and censorship of content deemed critical of state policies. Dating apps are an easy target,” he told Reuters (an international news organization).

The decision to suspend the applications comes less than two months after the PTA banned Bigo live to stream and released a “last warning” regarding inappropriate and unethical material to TikTok’s video-sharing service app.

On June 1, PlayerUnknown’s Battle Ground (PUBG) online game had already banned by the authority. It mentioned many complaints about its “intoxicating” and addictive nature. And a waste of time, and its possible harmful effects on the physical and psychological health of children. After the PTA was given assurance by the legal representative of the game developer, the ban was then lifted in July.

Recommended: PTA Blocks Five Dating/Live Streaming Applications Including Tinder