Banning YouTube not a solution: Tania Aidrus

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Digital Pakistan, Tania Aidrus, said Wednesday that banning video streaming website YouTube was "not a solution", highlighting how the platform had created thousands of jobs for Pakistanis over the years. 

Taking to Twitter, Aidrus recalled how Pakistan's content creator ecosystem had been held back the three years YouTube was banned in the country. 

"Banning a platform like YouTube is not a solution. The 3 years when YouTube was banned in Pakistan it held back our content creator ecosystem which has just started to flourish now, creating employment opportunities for thousands," she tweeted. 

Aidrus further tweeted that "brute force measures" like banning YouTube will not serve any purpose. 

"Our focus should be on ensuring better curation of content through policy and dialogue. Brute force measures like banning will not serve any purpose and will hold us back from achieving the vision of #DigitalPakistan," she added. 

Fawad Chaudhry speaks up about 'moral policing and ban approach'

Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday shared his thoughts about the ongoing "moral policing and ban approach" in Pakistan as the country ponders permanent bans on TikTok and PUBG and a day after the Chinese application was warned over "immoral, obscene and vulgar content".

Fawad said that it was not okay to go on banning apps left, right, and centre, as it would "destroy [Pakistani] tech industry".

He further highlighted how development in technology would "be permanently hampered" across Pakistan, a country that already lags significantly behind the world in terms of science and research.

The federal minister expressed his concern over how there was a consistent and "ill-advised interference in economic matters" that affected the country’s growth.