PTA blocks more than 1.5 million URLs following public complaints
- The highest number of blocked URLs fell under the "Others/Misc" category
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority blocked over 1.54 million URLs by July 2026, achieving an 89% blocking rate, primarily targeting content related to decency and morality.
- Major categories of blocked online content, including decency and morality.
- Blocking rates across popular social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
- Specific reasons for content restrictions, such as terrorism and hate speech.
- Overall statistics on processed, blocked, and rejected complaints.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked 1,542,800 URLs out of 1,726,303 processed complaints till July 2026, reflecting an overall blocking rate of 89.37%, according to Web Analysis Division (WAD) of the Authority.
The largest share of blocked content falls under “Decency and Morality”, where 1,065,671 URLs were blocked out of 1,075,762 processed cases — a staggering 99.06% blocking rate and nearly 69% of all blocked URLs.
The data shows that the PTA processed 1,726,303 URLs, of which 1,542,800 were blocked, 76,874 remain under review, while 106,629 complaints were rejected.
The highest number of blocked URLs fell under the “Others/Misc” category, where 891,772 out of 899,415 reported links were blocked, reflecting a 99.15 percent blocking rate.
Among social media platforms, Facebook topped the list in absolute numbers, with 230,270 URLs blocked out of 287,362 processed, followed by TikTok with 170,231 blocked URLs and Twitter (X) with 74,236.
Meanwhile, YouTube recorded the highest blocking rate among major platforms at 88.6 percent, with 66,290 of 74,823 URLs blocked.
WhatsApp saw 50,165 URLs blocked (90.53%), while Instagram had 45,510 URLs blocked (83.76%).
The data further showed SnackVideo (7,225 blocked), Bigo/Likee (6,539), and Dailymotion (562) also witnessed significant content restrictions.
Overall, the figures highlight the scale of Pakistan’s online content regulation, with nearly nine out of every 10 URLs reported to the PTA blocked by July 2026.
The data also shows:
- Terrorism: 141,897 URLs blocked out of 179,285 processed (79.15%).
- Against Glory of Islam: 112,482 blocked out of 136,891 (82.17%).
- Against Security & Defence of Pakistan: 74,059 blocked out of 125,427 (59.05%).
- Sectarian/Hate Speech: 52,776 blocked out of 76,526 (68.96%).
- Miscellaneous: 60,525 blocked out of 67,778 (89.30%).
- Defamatory/Impersonation: 17,356 blocked out of 44,200 (39.27%).
- Contempt of Court: 7,716 blocked out of 10,115 (76.28%).
- Proxy websites: 10,318 blocked out of 10,319 processed, a 99.99% blocking rate.
Overall, 76,874 cases remain under review, while 106,629 requests were rejected by the authority.
PTA blocked over 1.54 million online URLs till July 2026, with 89% censorship rate.
Comments