Apparently, social media personalities like MrBeast, an American producer of entertaining stunts, frighten the Kyrgyz government enough that it has decided to restrict children’s Internet access.
Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Digital Development is blocking the Chinese-owned social media channel TikTok, justifying it as a move to protect children from pernicious web-borne influences. Kyrgyz mobile operators and Internet providers began restricting access to the application on April 17. As a result, TikTok is largely inaccessible to all users in the Central Asian nation.
The ministry’s action occurred after the State Committee for National Security (GKNB), the successor to the KGB, issued a determination that TikTok harms “the health of children, their intellectual, mental, spiritual and moral development.”
The basis for the move was legislation adopted last summer that prohibits the distribution of “harmful” web content accessible to minors, including content featuring “non-traditional sexual relationships.” The amendments also target content that “denies family values,” justifies illegal behavior, encourages children to commit suicide, use drugs and alcohol, or engage in other forms of anti-social activity.
The ban has a flip side. TikTok has catapulted some Kyrgyz content creators to international stardom. One such social media sensation, 21-year-old Argen Kerimov, inspired the SigmaFace trend, which gained him over 20 million subscribers and a collaboration opportunity with one of the Internet’s mega-stars, the aforementioned MrBeast.
President Sadyr Japarov and GKNB boss Kamchybek Tashiev have not commented publicly on the TikTok ban. However, a presidential press spokesman, Dayyrbek Orunbekov, reposted a message on Facebook saying that the ban will be beneficial for youth development, ensuring “that the future generation grows in the right direction.”
Chinese officials so far have not publicly commented on the Kyrgyz move. In March, Beijing accused the United States of “bullying” after the US House of Representatives voted to either force the sale of or ban TikTok. The measure still needs Senate approval and a presidential signature before it becomes official in the United States.
As expected, plenty of bloggers and other commentators in Kyrgyzstan have used their Internet platforms to offer criticism. One popular blogger and producer, 18-year-old Rastislav Yashchenko, posted a video on Instagram on April 18, saying authorities “hurried” to implement a ban without getting input from content creators.
“There is harmful content there, just like everywhere else on the internet. On any platform there is something that children should not watch. But you should be involved in raising children, not TikTok, bloggers, etc.,” Yashchenko said. “Many will suffer because of this, and the image of the country, because videos about our country on TikTok are gaining a colossal number of views.”
