By Servet Gunerigok
WASHINGTON (AA) - Kyrgyzstan has banned TikTok after appeals from non-governmental organizations about the impact of the platform on children's mental development and overall well-being.
The decision was announced Wednesday by the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sport and Youth Policy.
Following an evaluation, the ministry concluded that the platform does not have adequate user controls to prevent children from accessing potentially harmful content.
It also said the platform lacks proper age verification measures for its users.
The ministry also said that TikTok draws users into a virtual realm of short video clips, and after viewing these clips, some people attempt to imitate certain videos that pose life-threatening risks.
Such addictive content has been observed to have an adverse impact on the emotional well-being of the younger generation, it said.
TikTok has recently been facing increasing limits and bans on a global scale.