If you use BIGO LIVE or Likee in Pakistan, both apps now sit formally inside PTA’s reach: the regulator announced on Wednesday that it has registered them, in the name of their local company, Bigo Service Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd.
In practice that gives PTA an address in Pakistan for takedown orders when a video or live stream is reported for breaking local law. The authority said it wants to work with BIGO on moderation and on keeping the apps within Pakistani law.
Neither app is new to the system. BIGO Service Pakistan and Joyo Technology Pakistan, which runs Snack Video, were the first two social media companies to collect registration certificates, at a ceremony in PTA’s Islamabad headquarters in January 2022.
The registration falls under the 2021 online content rules, which the IT ministry issued using Section 37 of the cyber crime law (PECA, 2016). Under them, a platform with half a million users in Pakistan has to register every app separately and name a compliance officer and a grievance officer. One that ignores a removal order risks being slowed down, blocked or fined up to Rs. 500 million. Content can be ordered off on grounds such as public order, decency and morality, the glory of Islam, and the defence of Pakistan.
The 2021 version replaced an earlier set of rules from 2020. It softened one demand of the original: a company no longer has to open an office in Pakistan within six months, only when PTA directs it to and when that is feasible.
PTA has not published figures on how many removal orders either app has received.
