Caretaker Minister of Information, Ziad Al-Makari, issued the following statement:

“After the revelation of luring minors through the TikTok application and the security forces revealing the “TikTokers” gang that used the application to promote their criminal acts, and after demanding that this application be banned in Lebanon, the Ministry of Information is interested in clarifying the following:

First - Banning any application, based on the Ministry of Communications’ statement, requires a judicial decision, noting that the ban does not limit use, as there are other possible and available alternative methods, such as VPN

Secondly - The Ministry of Information will cooperate with the TikTok office in the Middle East and Turkey, whose work team will visit Lebanon soon, based on the Ministry’s invitation and within the framework of coordination, with the aim of developing a joint action plan with the Ministry of Communications, to monitor the content of the application and reduce the risks of offensive content, in addition to establishing ethical controls. It will also be agreed to organize educational courses presented by experts, which will be available to all interested parties, including media professionals and educational institutions, on how to benefit from this platform in a positive way, and know its conditions and laws.

Third - With regard to the ongoing investigations into the “TikTokers” scandal and its random transmission through the media and the publication of sometimes inaccurate information, and in view of the harm this entails to the course of the investigation, the Ministry of Information, in line with the statement of the Public Prosecution of Discrimination in this context, hopes obtaining information about investigations exclusively from the judiciary, as it is the only official source for that, knowing that this does not negate the role of responsible investigative journalism that is keen to present the facts professionally.”