The largest number of blocks carried out on Facebook, TikTok; content contrary to “decency and morality” represents the largest share
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has informed the Lahore High Court that it has blocked more than 1.4 million web links and URLs as part of its ongoing fight against “illegal online content”, amid growing concern over coordinated social media campaigns targeting state institutions, including the higher judiciary.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday ordered the PTA to contact Facebook, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa had issued the directions while hearing a petition filed against an alleged social media smear campaign against judges.
The PTA submitted a report to the court, according to which more than 1 million links were examined and blocked on major social media platforms due to their illegal online content, with the highest number of blocks being made on Facebook and TikTok.
According to the report, the PTA reviewed 229,000 Facebook links, blocking about 197,000, or nearly 86 percent. TikTok was subject to the strictest enforcement action with over 174,000 links examined and over 163,000 blocked, representing a 94% blocking rate.
On Instagram, 38,000 URLs examined out of 43,000 were blocked, a blocking rate of 87%.
On YouTube, authorities examined 72,000 links and blocked more than 64,000. Meanwhile, more than 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 of the 898,000 links examined 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 judged against the state.
Content contrary to “decency and morality” accounted for the largest share, with more than 1.06 million links blocked. Another 148,000 links were removed for content deemed “contrary to the security and defense of Pakistan”. More than 109,000 links containing anti-religious material were also blocked, as well as more than 76,000 links linked to sectarian and hateful content.
The lowest blocking rate was recorded for content involving defamation and false identities, at 56.7%, the report noted.
