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Police in Pakistan reported on Friday that a father fatally shot his daughter after she refused to remove her account from the popular video-sharing platform TikTok.
In this predominantly Muslim country, women can face violence from family members for not adhering to rigid standards of behaviour in public, including in virtual environments.
According to a police report, authorities revealed that the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday for “honour.” He has since been apprehended. Police in Rawalpindi say the victim’s family initially attempted to present the murder as a suicide.
Last month, a 17-year-old girl and TikTok influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers was murdered at home by a man whose romantic advances she had declined.
Sana Yousaf had garnered over a million followers across her social media profiles, including TikTok, where she showcased videos featuring her favourite cafes, beauty products, and traditional clothing.
TikTok enjoys immense popularity in Pakistan, partly due to its accessibility among a population with low literacy rates.
Women have discovered both an audience and a source of income through the app, which is uncommon in a country where less than a quarter of women engage in the formal workforce.
Nevertheless, only 30 per cent of women in Pakistan possess a smartphone, in contrast to 58 per cent of men, marking the largest gender gap globally, as per the Mobile Gender Gap Report of 2025.
Pakistani telecommunications authorities have consistently threatened to ban the app or have already blocked it, citing “immoral behavior,” coupled with the backlash against LGBTQ and sexual content.
In the southwestern province of Balochistan, where tribal customs dominate many rural regions, a man admitted to orchestrating the killing of his 14-year-old daughter earlier this year due to TikTok videos that he claimed tarnished her “honour.”
