A 28-year-old Pakistani TikToker with more than 1.3 million followers was shot dead by two men in Taxila city near the capital Islamabad, amid growing concerns over violence targeting women social media creators.
Shamso Bibi, popularly known online as Ayesha Gilamana, was killed on Pakistan‘s Independence Day (14 August) over alleged financial disputes, her brother Niamatullah said, calling for Punjab’s chief minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s intervention.
The local police have since arrested at least four suspects, including two people who allegedly helped the main shooter evade arrest, ARY News reported on Monday.
Bibi’s father, Fazal Sahibzada, said in his complaint his daughter received a call from a man named Kashif who had asked her to come out of her Taxila house.
open image in galleryBibi, along with her sister and brother, left the house in a car when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on their vehicle near a market. A bullet reportedly struck Bibi in the neck, killing her, according to the police report.
A purported surveillance video circulating on social media showed two men on a motorcycle intercepting a car being driven by Bibi, before pulling out a pistol and firing at the vehicle from a close range.
During the shooting, the car veered out of control and smashed into a dumper truck, causing serious injuries to Bibi’s sister.
“My daughter Shamso Bibi used to make TikTok [videos] and had been doing so for nearly three to four years,” Mr Sahibzada said in the complaint, Arab News reported. “It had over 30-35 million likes and over one million followers,” he said.
Bibi’s family said it deleted her TikTok account after her death, while her YouTube page could no longer be found.
Mr Sahibzada alleged that his daughter had received death threats over demands for repayment of money from two men and had “strong reason to believe” that either of the individuals was behind Bibi’s death.
open image in galleryBibi’s murder comes amid an alarming rise in violent attacks targeting young women content creators across Pakistan’s cities.
TikTok creator Sana Javed, 24, was allegedly shot dead at a parking area of a mall in Islamabad by her estranged husband, who later shot himself dead.
In May, a Pakistani court sentenced a 23-year-old man to death for the murder of 17-year-old TikTok influencer Sana Yousaf, who was shot dead at her home in Islamabad in June 2025 after repeatedly rejecting his advances.
Umar Hayat was convicted of intentional murder and was ordered to pay Rs 25m (£6,700) in compensation to Yousaf’s family.
open image in galleryAnother 16-year-old TikTok creator was reportedly killed by her father for refusing to delete her social media account.
TikTok is one of Pakistan’s most widely used social media platforms, particularly among younger users, partly because its video-based format is accessible to people with limited literacy. For women, the platform opens up rare opportunities to earn money and build public audiences in a country where fewer than 25 per cent of them participate in the formal workforce.