Considered Immoral, Pakistan Block Tinder Online Dating App

Illustration Tinder (Kon Karampelas / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Pakistani government has blocked Tinder, Grindr, Tagged, Skout and SayHi services from its country. This step was taken because the online platform was deemed to have spread or had immoral content.

According to a CNN International report, Pakistan is the second largest Muslim majority country in the world after Indonesia. Where the Islamic state always applies regulations if extramarital relations and homosexuality are illegal acts.

In this regard, the Telecommunications Authority of Pakistan (PTA) has sent a notification to application management to immediately remove dating services and moderation of live streaming content that are not in accordance with local laws. The blocking is carried out because of paying attention to the negative effects of streaming immoral and obscene content.

Neither Tinder, Grindr, Tagged, and Skout have yet to comment on this block. Even though this online dating application is not as popular as in its home country of the United States (US).

In fact, Tinder is a global dating application owned by Match Group, while Tagged and Skout belongs to Meet Group. Meanwhile, Grindr is a social network and online dating application for LGBT people.

Based on data from research firm Sensor Tower, Tinder has been downloaded more than 440 thousand times in Pakistan in the last 12 months. Grindr, Tagged and SayHi each downloaded about 300 thousand times, and Skout 100 thousand in the same period.

"While we appreciate the broad wisdom given to the Telecommunications Authority of Pakistan, we are exploring ways that we can serve the LGBTQ community in the region," said Grindr Chief Operating Officer Rick Marini.

Not only dating apps, Paksitan also seems to be following in the footsteps of India and the US to block video applications created by TikTok in their countries. In July, government authorities issued a final warning to TikTok for "immoral, obscene and vulgar content" found on the app.

To follow Pakistan's rule, TikTok senior management last week told authorities, if an app wants to remove obscene content, it must implement stronger content moderation and time to ensure unlawful material cannot be accessed in the country.