KARACHI: Popular social networking platform X, previously Twitter, remained sporadically unavailable in Pakistan on Monday after being restored earlier today following a more than 36-hour embargo since Saturday (February 17).
NetBlocks, a global internet monitor, reported on Saturday a “national-scale disruption to X amid escalating unrest and protests over allegations of election fraud, following a high-level resignation and public admission of vote manipulation” by Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaqat Ali Chatha, who admitted to rigging under his watch, sparking a new wave of controversy over poll results.
In an update on Sunday, the watchdog noted the platform’s ongoing restriction, which it called “the latest and longest in a series of nation-scale internet censorship measures imposed by authorities.”
It is worth noting, however, that X was restored for half an hour yesterday before being blocked again, and the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) is not responding to concerns.
Usama Khilji, a digital rights activist, spoke with Geo News and blasted the authorities for implementing internet restrictions.
“We witnessed in the last three months that 5,6 times social media apps were blocked in Pakistan, and not only this mobile internet was blocked on election day and the next day,” he said.
This is a highly worrying subject, he continued, because not only do the rules of the Constitution prohibit the government from blocking the internet, but the Sindh High Court has also issued an order in this regard, preventing the authorities from cutting the connection.
Many people are now of the view that the irregularities that took place in the results compilation were due to internet blockage, raising questions about the whole democratic process of elections, as the activist mentioned.
“The PTA chairperson should be asked as to why there are so many restrictions on internet services in Pakistan, which is affecting the country’s overall investment climate and especially the IT sector.”
He agreed with the anchorperson that these blockades hit IT businesses hard, and according to Netblocks, which monitors the internet globally, Pakistan suffers a loss of $53 million if the internet is shut down for one day.
Khilji said that the Pakistan Institute for Development Economics, a government body, had estimated a loss of Rs1.3 billion due to the Internet blockade.
“Not only this, it also harms your image and impacts the ease of doing business. The IT sector, which is the only growing sector bringing forex to the country, also gets hurt as foreign investors don’t like working with us.”
He dispelled the impression that social media gives a boost to disinformation only and stated that there are platforms available for self-correction.
“Many people argue that there must be laws to deal with fake news and disinformation, but who will decide what is fake news? If disinformation is spread by the state, then it won’t take responsibility for this and penalize its own officials.
“So we must utilise self-correction and co-regulation mechanisms to counter this. Not only this, there are options to report such reports to social media platforms, which must be used as well.”
