Censorship of TikTok
While TikTok remains accessible to civilians in most countries and regions, a minority — including India, Iran, China, and Afghanistan — have imposed nationwide bans. In the United States, legislation providing for a full ban was enacted but not implemented because of a restructure of U.S. operations. Many countries restrict TikTok on government-issued devices due to national security concerns over potential access to data by the Chinese government through TikTok's parent company, ByteDance. Reasoning for full bans have cited children's well-being and offensive content such as pornography.
Africa
Kenya
In April 2024, an individual filed a petition to ban TikTok in Kenya. However, the petition is about unregulated content on the platform, not the government's indirect suppression of online criticism.Senegal
In August 2023, Senegal blocked TikTok following the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. In October, the country said it wants to sign a comprehensive regulatory agreement with the platform before lifting its ban.Somalia
On 21 August 2023, Somalia's communications ministry announced a ban on TikTok citing the spread of propaganda and indecent content, but the call has not been enforced.Asia
Afghanistan
In April 2022, a spokesman for the Taliban government stated that the app will be banned for 'misleading the younger generation' and that TikTok's content was 'not consistent with Islamic laws'.Armenia
In October 2020, TikTok users in Armenia reported a loss of app functionality, although it has not been confirmed whether this was the result of any intervention by the Armenian government in response to the use of the app by Azerbaijani sources to spread misinformation during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.Azerbaijan
On 27 September 2020, citizens of Azerbaijan noticed social media restrictions across an array of platforms, including TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and others. NetBlocks confirmed the restrictions on social media and communication platforms through Twitter. According to Azerbaijan's Ministry of Transport, Communications and Technology, these restrictions were issued in an attempt to "prevent large-scale provocations from Armenia," during the longstanding Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.On 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan restricted access to TikTok again, due to 2023 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes.
Bangladesh
In November 2018, the Bangladeshi government blocked the TikTok app's Internet access as part of Bangladesh's crackdown on pornography and gambling sites. "I want to create a safe and secure internet for all Bangladeshis, including children. And this is my war against pornography. And this will be a continuous war," said Mustafa Jabbar, Posts and Communications Officer of Bangladesh.In August 2020, the government of Bangladesh requested that TikTok remove 10 videos from the platform that were uploaded from the country. "The TikTok authorities have told the government they will take down 'offensive' videos uploaded from Bangladesh," said the Minister of Post and Telecommunication of Bangladesh. As a result, the Bangladeshi government cleared the TikTok ban.
In June 2021, Law and Life Foundation, a human rights organization, issued a legal notice to the Bangladeshi government that sought the prohibition of "dangerous and harmful" applications such as TikTok, PUBG, and Free Fire, but failed to obtain a response. Soon thereafter, Law and Life Foundation's lawyers filed a petition with the High Court, sharing the organization's concerns. In August 2020, the High Court encouraged the Bangladeshi government to prohibit "dangerous and harmful" applications such as TikTok, PUBG, and Free Fire to "save children and adolescents from moral and social degradation."
On 2 August 2024, TikTok, along with WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube was blocked in Bangladesh due to quota reform protests.
People's Repulic of China
Despite being a Chinese-made app, the international version of TikTok does not function on local networks in mainland China or Hong Kong. Instead, the domestic version Douyin is available, presumably to shield Chinese users from politically sensitive content posted by foreign users. The international version can sometimes be accessed using a VPN or data roaming with an overseas SIM card.Repulic of China(Taiwan)
Taiwan, which is facing off with China over the Strait of Taiwan, banned TikTok from government devices in December 2022, and is considering extending it to the private sector over concerns of usage by the Chinese government to conduct "cognitive warfare" against Taiwan.India
2019 ban
On 3 April 2019, the Madras High Court, while hearing a PIL, asked the government of India to ban the app, citing that it "encourages pornography" and shows "inappropriate content". The court also noted that minors using the app were at risk of being targeted by sexual predators. The court further asked broadcast media not to telecast any of those videos from the app. The spokesperson for TikTok stated that they were abiding by local laws and were awaiting a copy of the court order before they take action. On 17 April, both Google and Apple blocked TikTok from Google Play and the App Store for users in India. As the court refused to reconsider the ban, the company stated that they had removed over 6 million videos that violated their content policy and guidelines.On 25 April 2019, the ban was lifted after the Madras High Court reversed its order, following a plea from TikTok developer ByteDance Technology. "We are committed to continuously enhancing our safety features as a testament to our ongoing commitment to our users in India," said TikTok in an official media statement. India's TikTok ban might have cost the app 15 million new users.
2020 ban
TikTok, along with 58 other Chinese-created apps, was banned completely in India by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on 29 June 2020, with a statement saying they were "prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, and public order". The ban was in response to a military clash between Indian and Chinese troops in disputed territory along their shared border between Ladakh and Western China. After an earlier skirmish in 2017 between the militaries of the two most populous countries in the world, the Indian military demanded that its troops delete dozens of Chinese applications from their devices over national security concerns. Applications like Weibo, UC Browser, and Shareit are among the apps that were removed at that time and have now been completely banned.The Indian government said the decision to ban the apps was "to protect the data and privacy of its 1.3 billion citizens" and to put a stop to technology that was "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorised manner and to unknown servers outside India".
Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, said the censorship was absent from well-defined national security criteria and has "impacted more Indians than any before". A venture capital investor said it was a populist "feel-good" step, referring to the ban, and that the world has the right to do what China has long done in its own country.
Indonesia
On 3 July 2018, TikTok was temporarily banned in Indonesia after the government accused it of promulgating "pornography, inappropriate content, and blasphemy." Rudiantara, Indonesia's Minister of Communications and Information said, "The app has a lot of negative and harmful content, especially for children," and added that, "once TikTok can give us guarantees they can maintain clean content, it can re-open." TikTok quickly responded by promising to enlist 20 staff to censor TikTok content in Indonesia, and the ban was lifted eight days later.Iran
Iranians cannot access TikTok because of Iranian censorship.Jordan
On 17 December 2022, Jordan announced a temporary ban against TikTok, following the death of a police officer during clashes with protesters. On 23 December, local media outlets in Jordan reported that the platform was back to normal, following its six-day suspension. In May 2023, it was reported that the app was still banned, with anonymous government sources saying the company had still not complied with all of its requirements.Kyrgyzstan
Authorities banned the use of TikTok in August 2023, citing concerns about children's development. It was unbanned a few days later.Nepal
On 13 November 2023, the government of Nepal said that it was banning TikTok. The main reason for the ban in was reported to be social harmony being disturbed by "misuse" of the video app and that there was rising demand to control it. The ban was lifted in August 2024 following an agreement between TikTok and the Government of Nepal to help identify criminal misuse of the app.North Korea
TikTok is blocked in North Korea and cannot be accessed there because of the country's censorship.Pakistan
Over the 15months up to November 2021, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority imposed and lifted four bans on TikTok.In October 2020, Pakistan ordered a ban of TikTok over "immoral, obscene, and vulgar" content. The ban was reversed ten days later, after ByteDance stated that they would remove objectionable TikTok content and block users who upload "pornography and paedo content".
In March 2021, a provincial court, the Peshawar High Court Order responded to a petition made by a resident of Punjab. The petition stated that TikTok's platform was being used to promote crime and glorified the use of drugs and weapons in its short videos and called on the PTA to ban the app once again. According to Sara Ali Khan, legal representative of the Punjab resident, the PTA announced that TikTok had not adequately proven their ability to moderate "immoral" and "indecent" content. Even with the removal of over 6 million videos between January 2021 and March 2021, the PTA remained unsatisfied and banned the app outright. The PTA lifted the ban in April 2021 after TikTok assured them it would "filter and moderate content".
On 28 June 2021, the Sindh High Court Order urged the PTA to restore the ban on TikTok for the alleged "spreading of immorality and obscenity". On 30 June 2021, the PTA announced that it had once more blocked citizen's access to the video-sharing application. Three days later, the court withdrew its decision.
On 20 July 2021, the PTA instituted a ban on TikTok by reason of the "continuous presence of inappropriate content on the platform and its failure to take such content down." According to a statement by the PTA, "As a result of continuous engagement, senior management of the platform assured PTA of its commitment to take necessary measure to control unlawful content in accordance with local laws and societal norms." Consequently, on 19 November 2021, the PTA agreed to act promptly and once again backtracked and eliminated Pakistan's fourth ban on TikTok. The PTA said in a tweet that they "will continue to monitor the platform in order to ensure that unlawful content contrary to Pakistan's law and societal values is not disseminated."