Largest number of blocks carried out on Facebook, TikTok; content against “decency and morality” shows biggest share
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has informed the Lahore High Court that it has blocked more than 1.4 million web links and URLs in its ongoing drive against “unlawful online content” amid growing concern over coordinated social media campaigns targeting state institutions, including the superior judiciary.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) had directed the PTA on Thursday to approach Facebook, X and other social media platforms to ensure the removal of defamatory and contemptuous content targeting judges, observing that legal action can be taken in Pakistan even if such material was created and shared from abroad. Justice Ali Zia Bajwa had issued the directions while hearing a petition filed against an alleged social media smear campaign against judges.
The PTA had submitted a report to the court, according to which, more than one million links were reviewed and blocked across major social media platforms due to containing “unlawful online content”, with the largest number of blockings carried out on Facebook and TikTok.
As per the report, the PTA reviewed 229,000 Facebook links, blocking around 197,000, or nearly 86%. TikTok faced the strictest enforcement action with more than 174,000 links reviewed and over 163,000 blocked, representing a 94% blocking rate.
On Instagram, 38,000 out of 43,000 reviewed URLs were blocked for an 87% blocking rate.
On YouTube, authorities reviewed 72,000 links and blocked more than 64,000. Meanwhile, over 112,000 links were examined on X, with 70,800 links blocked, recording the lowest blocking rate at 62%. On other miscellaneous digital platforms, 891,000 out of 898,000 reviewed links were blocked, reflecting near-total enforcement of 99%.
The report said the blocked content covered a wide range of categories, including contempt of court, obscenity, hate speech, religious violations, proxy services and material deemed against the state.
Content against “decency and morality” accounted for the largest share, with over 1.06m links blocked. A further 148,000 links were removed for content deemed to be “against security and defence of Pakistan”. More than 109,000 links containing anti-religious material were also blocked, alongside over 76,000 links related to sectarian and hate content.
The lowest blocking rate was recorded for content involving defamation and fake identities at 56.7%, the report noted.
