Services of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, continues to remain inaccessible to users in Pakistan for the third consecutive day in Pakistan on February 19.
NetBlocks, a UK-based organization that monitors accessibility issues on the internet, confirmed on February 17 that a “national-scale disruption” has hit X in Pakistan “amid escalating unrest and protests over allegations of election fraud, following a high-level resignation and public admission of vote manipulation by a senior election official”.
The disruption of services continued on February 19.
Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources, showed that the areas most affected were Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Gujranwala among others.
Pakistan has repeatedly seen internet accessibility issues in the last few months prior to the elections, especially during periods of political unrest and protests. The latest restriction was reported immediately after senior government official “confessed his involvement in the alleged manipulation” of Pakistan’s 2024 elections. Videos of the senior bureaucrat, Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha, were widely shared on social media platforms, including X.
Confessing his involvement in electoral “rigging” in 13 national and 26 provincial constituencies by misusing his administrative powers, the officer also accused the country’s top judge Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa as well as the chief of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) — a claim denied by both the top judge and the electoral watchdog.
Government response
Government officials have refused to acknowledge any such restriction. Murtaza Solangi, caretaker minister for information, failed to respond to the questions by the reporters regarding the inaccessibility.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the state regulatory body, did not respond to questions on the closure of social media platform. Malahat Obaid, director of public relations at PTA, asked the journalists to contact the interior ministry for a comment on the matter.
Digital rights activists slam restrictions
Digital rights activist Usama Khilji regretted that X remained inaccessible for many except via select virtual private networks (VPNs). “Most users complaining their VPNs are also blocked and the internet is slow,” he added.
Responding to a Twitter post by caretaker IT Minister Umar Saif, Khilji pointed out that even the minister was “using a VPN to tweet about two key IT initiatives in Pakistan as Twitter/X remains blocked for a third day”.
Access to the platform was temporarily restored on Sunday morning and Monday afternoon before it was blocked again.
Nighat Dad, a leading Pakistani digital rights activist and lawyer, called it a “blatant violation of civil liberties” which she said was “not good for democracy.” Dad added that the shutdown of the Internet or any social media platform would not help tackle the issues of disinformation and instead “will create chaos and trigger more disinformation.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also condemned the closure and said that shutting down the internet or any social media platforms “bleed online businesses and commerce and adds to the misery of an already fragile and struggling economy”.
Background on social media shutdown
Monday is the third consecutive day of disruption of services amid allegations of rigging in the February 8 polls and widespread protests by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other parties held countrywide demonstrations against alleged manipulation of election results.
The 2024 elections in Pakistan have been marred with controversy/ A week before the election, former prime minister and popular leader Imran Khan was sentenced to 14 years in jail on graft charges, a day after 10-year prison verdict for leaking state secrets.
Following Khan’s conviction, his party’s was stripped of its election symbol, the cricket bat, to identify party candidates on national ballots, forcing all PTI candidates to run as independents. Electoral symbols play a crucial role in ensuring voters have a voice in the polls in a country like Pakistan, where roughly 40% of the 240 million people are illiterate.
Despite all odds, the PTI-backed candidates gained more votes than those of any other party, winning 93 of 264 seats. However, the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif emerged as the largest single-party winner in parliament with a second-place 75 seats since all PTI candidates contested as individuals. Both parties have claimed victory, and PML-N leaders have said they plans to form a coalition government with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father Asif Ali Zardari.
Pakistan also experienced a suspension of mobile phone service on on election day.