Pakistan bans Mia Khalifa on TikTok, but she refuses to submit to ‘fascism’

The PTA has banned and unbanned TikTok twice and is now eyeing a new way to censor content on the social media application — individual bans on accounts. The account for media personality and sports commentator Mia Khalifa has been banned in Pakistan but she isn’t making it easy for authorities looking to deprive Pakistanis of her content.

Without any official announcement, the PTA decided to ban her account in the country without any explanation about how or why.

As Pakistanis started noting the absence of her content, they took to Twitter in an uproar. Their cries eventually reached Khalifa’s own ears and left her astounded.

Pakistanis were with her. They did not appreciate the decision and lashed out with heavy criticism.

This user questioned what the PTA’s job actually was.

For Khalifa though, they were all praises.

Obviously the ban did little to threaten the Lebanese born influencer and was only viewed as a challenge. She even gave us a shoutout for doing so. Then, to her fan’s absolute delight, she said, “I’ll be re-posting all my TikToks on Twitter from now on for my Pakistani fans who want to circumvent fascism.”

Khalifa has been very vocal about social and human rights issues such as the Indian farmers’ crisis and Israeli attacks on Palestinians. She has also engaged the UN, directly calling it out for its complacency and lack of action.

This entire episode may have a happy ending but it does raise questions about the PTA’s new powers on TikTok and the fact that it can now ban individual users instead of targeting the entire platform.