It has been revealed, in a major development, that X (formerly Twitter) has been blocked in Pakistan because it did not adhere to local regulations.
According to government sources, X (formerly Twitter) only blocked a small portion of the content that was flagged, failing to appropriately address the issue of illegal content.
67,000 links blocked
Twitter reportedly received over 67,000 links from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for blocking, but only a portion of those links were blocked by the social media network.
Moreover, authorities felt that Twitter’s response to blasphemous content was insufficient.
This action comes after Twitter was repeatedly warned to abide by Pakistani laws, with explicit instructions to block content that broke the rules.
PTA had previously reported Twitter’s noncompliance to the Ministry of Information Technology, urging stringent actions such as platform suspension and heavy fines.
After more than ten days, Pakistan’s social media platform X has been disrupted for an extended period of time, raising serious concerns about the nation’s freedom of expression and access to digital communication.
As of February 27, users throughout Pakistan are still unable to access X, which was blocked on February 17.
Popularity of VPNs in Pakistan
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have become popular among Pakistani social media users as a workaround to access X (Twitter) during the disruption.
But reports have surfaced indicating that government efforts to obstruct VPNs are making it more difficult for users to get around the limitations, which is making the online community even more irate.
Following the general elections on February 8, Liaquat Ali Chatta, the former chief commissioner of Rawalpindi, made accusations of irregularities in the election process, which led to the first Twitter block in Pakistan.
The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued directives last Thursday, urging authorities to ensure uninterrupted service nationwide and restore access to social media platform X, in an attempt to address the issue.
But even with the court’s orders, implementation is still difficult to come by, which prolongs the time that users are unable to access certain resources and causes worries about digital rights.
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