Social media blackout: users still facing restrictions accessing YouTube, Twitter

Pakistanis are still facing issues accessing social media websites and apps like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on Saturday with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) saying that a decision would be made soon.

Users on Saturday also complained they were unable to connect to these platforms without using a Virtual Private Network. As per Downdetector, outage reports for Twitter were concentrated in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

On Tuesday, the government blocked mobile broadband and social media websites in the aftermath of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest and subsequent unrest in the country.

The internet outage added to those woes, costing Pakistan as much as $53 million a day according to global internet monitor NetBlocks, with mobile data coverage powering economic transactions, including credit and debit card point-of-sale terminals.

However, on Friday, a PTA official told Business Recorder that broadband services were currently being restored.

“Instructions (on unblocking social media websites) are also expected soon,” the official said, just as when Twitter and YouTube also came back online in Pakistan, but access proved to be short-lived.

Pakistan’s social media blackout lends credence to claims voices are being silenced

Mobile broadband subscribers jumped from 56 million in 2018 to 116 million in 2022 – around half of the country – according to the telecom regulator.

Internet censorship has been common in recent decades, even under Khan’s government.

But a young, tech-savvy citizenry has adapted quickly, using VPNs to disguise their locations and skirt restrictions, Shahzad Ahmad, director of digital rights organisation Bytes for All told AFP earlier.

Despite the ban, Twitter “was still very active in the country because people had their VPNs ready,” he added.

In Peshawar, PTI supporter Ikram Khan told AFP that party activists were expecting “a complete (internet) shutdown”, so they hurriedly transferred mobile phone clips to computers equipped with wired internet connections and VPNs.

There was a delay in uploading the videos to Instagram and Twitter, and streaming service Facebook Live could not be used, but “we still did our job well”, the 31-year-old told AFP.

‘Far-reaching effects’: GSMA urges Pakistan to restore internet services

Impact of suspension

The suspension of mobile broadband services earlier led to widescale criticism with telecommunication companies in Pakistan citing a loss of Rs2.46 billion in revenue, which translates to a dent of Rs861 million in taxation.

An official from a telecom company stated that companies earned around 60% of revenues from mobile broadband services. When divided by 365 days, daily revenues are around Rs820 million. Meanwhile, 35% of the revenue enters the government’s kitty.

The assessment is based on the fact that telecommunication companies earned around Rs500 billion from cellular services last year.