Tik Tok has been banned by local authorities in Indonesia on Wednesday for "inappropriate content".

 

抖音因“不合适的内容”被印尼政府封禁。

 

According to the Ministry¹ of Communication and Information Technology in the country, the app contains "pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy²", and "is deemed to have a bad influence on youth". However, the ban, which took effect on Tuesday, is temporary until Tik Tok fixes and clears its illegal content. The app can still be downloaded, but all the content cannot be viewed.

 

Why has Tik Tok been blocked so suddenly? The cause of the incident is a video which shows a girl dancing, which then cuts to a dead body, indicated as the relative of the girl.

 

Since the app is popular for teenagers of around 13 to 15 years of age, the provocative³ behavior is causing, local people to worry about the influence it may have on them. The Indonesian ministry has received more than 2,800 complaint letters about Tik Tok, while an online petition has gathered over 125,000 signatures appealing for local authorities to block the app.

 

Originally called Douyin in China, Tik Tok was launched in 2016 by Zhang Yiming, who is also the founder⁴ of information platform Toutiao. Tik Tok was introduced to Indonesia in 2017 by tech company ByteDance.

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