Imran Khan says government blocked YouTube to impose blackout on his speeches

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday blamed the government for “complete blackout of my speeches not only from mainstream media but also by blocking YouTube.”

He was referring to a disruption in video service YouTube in parts of Pakistan on Tuesday evening, which coincided which his speech at a rally in Peshawar.

In a tweet, he said “imported government is so fearful of the nation rising in support of my message of Haqiqi Azadi that they are imposing complete blackout of my speeches.”

He said that digital censorship hurts the entire IT sector and damages Pakistan’s international image.

“This fascist government of crooks and their backers are willing to harm the interests of Pakistan simply out of fear of PTI’s soaring popularity. Utterly callous and unacceptable,” the PTI chairman added.

In August 2022, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned live speeches of Khan. However on Monday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared PEMRA’s order null and void and asked the media regulatory body to implement the delay system while broadcasting live material to stop the prohibited content from being aired.

During the outage on Tuesday evening, PTI leader and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari tweeted “So YouTube blocked again suddenly by this fascist imported govt and its handlers. Really sick mindsets.”

“Imran Khan’s speech will be heard one way or another you petty frightened political pygmies. Never thought the state would use cyber warfare against its own people! Shameful.”

PTI’s focal person, Azhar Mashwani, said that the government has once again blocked YouTube just to stop people from watching the Peshawar jalsa speech of Imran Khan.

“What a shame, they will bring down whole IT sector down just to stop ppl from watching IK speech,” he wrote.