Pakistan continues to restrict social media access for the fourth consecutive day following the violent protests that erupted in the wake of former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest as businesses lament losses and human rights activists decry curbs on freedom to information.
On May 9, the authorities shut down the internet across Pakistan and restricted access to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms amid violent protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters against the arrest of their leader Imran Khan.
International human rights watchdogs, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, had urged the authorities to uplift the ban since it was against fundamental human rights.
Yesterday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had announced that it would be uplifting the restrictions, however, social media users have been reporting difficulties accessing Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms without VPN.
Express Tribune reported that the national exchequer suffered a loss of more than Rs3.5 billion due to vandalism and arson by the PTI workers and the government’s shutdown of the internet.
Human rights activist Usama Khilji called the ban on social media “counter-productive”.
Internet shutdowns & social media censorship are counterproductive. Spoke to @AFP about this: https://t.co/LTrdJ1zDPJ pic.twitter.com/h6XvAqSuar
— Usama Khilji (@UsamaKhilji) May 13, 2023
Founder of Katalyst Labs, a technology accelerator and innovation hub, Jehan Ara condemned the ban on social media platforms and said that access to information is a basic human right.
Blocking access to social media platforms like #twitter #youtube #facebook is yet another move I don’t understand at all. This is not the first time this has happened. I thought access to information and freedom of expression were basic human rights guaranteed to us under the…
— jehan_ara (@jehan_ara) May 13, 2023
