TikTok on Thursday began letting users post videos up to three minutes in length, tripling the prior cap to stay ahead of competitors.

TikTok is believed to have one billion users worldwide including more than 100 million in the United States, and is especially popular with young smartphone users.

"With longer videos, creators will have the canvas to create new or expanded types of content on TikTok, with the flexibility of a bit more space," product manager Drew Kirchhoff said in a post.

The option to post videos longer than the previous time limit of one minute will roll out to all TikTok users in coming weeks, according to Kirchhoff.

"Some of you might have come across a longer video on TikTok already – we've been letting creators around the world experiment with the expanded format," Kirchhoff said.

TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, remains one of the world's most popular social media apps but faces competitors such as YouTube. Triller, and others.

Facebook-owned Instagram will be experimenting with video features to ride the hot trend, chief Adam Mosseri said in a Twitter post.

Video sharing and viewing is driving a lot of growth at online platforms, and Instagram needs to "lean into" it more, according to Mosseri.

"We are no longer a photo-sharing app," Mosseri said in a video shared at Twitter.

"There is some serious competition now. TikTok is huge; YouTube is even bigger, and there are lots of other upstarts as well."

US President Joe Biden in June revoked executive orders from his predecessor Donald Trump seeking to ban Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat from US markets on national security concerns.

A statement said that instead of banning WeChat and TikTok, the Biden administration would carry out a "criteria-based decision framework and rigorous, evidence-based analysis to address the risks" from internet applications controlled by foreign entities.

Pakistan suspends TikTok again as court hears obscenity petition
Karachi (AFP) July 1, 2021 –

Pakistan authorities on Thursday again blocked the popular TikTok social media app after a court ruling on a private citizen's petition that accused the company of promoting obscenity.

"The TikTok ban is effective from today," a representative of the company told AFP, and users confirmed they could not access their accounts or view the short video clips that have made the app one of the most popular in the country.

"It is absurd," said Imdad Kazmi, studying mass communication at a government university.

"It affects thousands of people who promote their products, fashion and other goods. The ban is not a solution at all."

Chinese-owned TikTok has been shut down twice before in Pakistan because of alleged "indecent" content — most recently in March, after which the company pledged to better moderate content.

It said Wednesday it had removed more than six million videos from its Pakistan service in the past three months alone — around 15 percent featuring "adult nudity and sexual activities".

A spokesman said the content was removed as a result of both user and government requests.

In the Muslim nation, posting videos in Western clothes that reveal too much skin is taboo, and is often met with abuse.

Earlier this month, small anti-TikTok rallies were held against what protesters called the spreading of homosexual content on the platform.

"We have grown our local-language moderation capacity for Pakistan and work diligently to review and take action on content in violation of our community guidelines," a TikTok statement said after the latest takedown.

The Sindh High Court said the suspension would hold in place until the next hearing on the petition on July 8.

Freedom of speech advocates have long criticised creeping government censorship and control of Pakistan's internet and media.