Kyrgyzstan’s TikTok block builds censorship fears [Video]

In her photography studio in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Aku Sharsheeva, tried unsuccessfully to connect to TikTok this week.

“Nothing loads. There are no videos,” the 22-year old told AFP, showing an error message displayed on the app’s home page.

The Central Asian country this week blocked the video-sharing platform after its security services expressed concern over the influence on children.

Sharsheeva had used TikTok, which has more than one billion monthly users worldwide and is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, to market her photography business. Now she will have to find another way.

The ban in Kyrgyzstan — a small, ex-Soviet country of seven million people — is just one small part of a global backlash from politicians and regulators to the app’s surging popularity.

TikTok is embroiled in …