X (Twitter) blocked in Pakistan due to illegal content, say govt sources

Sources privy to the development told that blocking of X, formerly known as Twitter, in Pakistan, was imposed due to its failure to comply with local regulations.

Government sources said that X failed to sufficiently address the issue of illegal content, as only a small portion of content that was flagged was successfully blocked.

Reportedly, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) sent Twitter more than 67,000 links for blocking; however, only a subset of those links were blocked by the platform. Furthermore, authorities deemed Twitter’s response to blasphemous content to be inadequate.

READ MORE: X (Twitter) down in Pakistan

X has been issued numerous warnings to comply with Pakistani regulations, including explicit directives to obstruct content that violates regulations.

PTA had previously provided the Ministry of Information Technology with a report concerning X’s non-compliance, in which it advocated for severe sanctions such as suspension of the platform and significant monetary fines.

The ongoing downtime of social media platform X in Pakistan has now exceeded ten days, giving rise to substantial concerns regarding the nation’s digital communication accessibility and freedom of expression.

As of February 27th, users throughout Pakistan are still unable to access X, which was blocked on February 17th. Social media users in Pakistan have resorted to utilizing Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) as a temporary solution to access X (Twitter) amidst the disruption.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued directives last Thursday to resolve the matter at hand. These directives urged authorities to reinstate access to the social media platform X and guarantee uninterrupted service throughout the country.