Iraqi ministry requests blocking of TikTok, accusing it of “disintegrating society”

The Ministry of Communications of Iraq announced this Monday that it has submitted a request to the Council of Ministers to block the application TikTok by “contribute greatly to disintegrating the Iraqi social fabric”The head of the department, Hiyam al Yasiri, said at a press conference.

“The Ministry of Communications submitted a request to the Council of Ministers to block the TikTok application because it greatly contributed to the disintegration of the Iraqi social fabric,” said the minister, who recalled that the decision must be approved by the Iraqi Cabinet.

In addition, he called on members of Parliament to vote “in favor of blocking the application.”

Al Yasiri justified that TikTok does not contribute “no scientific or educational benefit” to Iraqi society by being simply an entertainment platform, in response to the concern generated among groups of activists who consider that this measure undermines freedom of expression in the Arab country.

Likewise, the minister recalled that the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court instructed the Government and state institutions to block any application or website that contains pornographic, obscene material, insults to God, witchcraft or other “offensive content”.

In the last two years, Iraq has sentenced several ‘influencers’ by “publish several videos that include immoral content” tboth on YouTube and on TikTok, after the Government launched the ‘Baligh’ (Complaint, in Arabic) campaign, to encourage citizens to report any content on social networks that “is not consistent with public morality.”

Iraq is a country with a Shiite Muslim majority, a very conservative branch of Islam that considers it inappropriate to use vulgar language in public and even more so for a girl to post a video on social networks in which she appears dancing, something that could even be considered “debauchery” in the Arab country.

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