The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that it had made three separate requests to social media platform X—formerly Twitter—to suspend the account of former prime minister Imran Khan over the past three and a half years. All requests were declined.
According to media reports, the PTA said in a report submitted to the court that it first contacted X on 21 August 2022, then again on 18 April 2024 and 27 November 2025. In the latest request, the PTA asked the platform to block 47 tweets from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder’s account. X only removed one.
The information came to light during a hearing on a petition about inflammatory posts allegedly shared from Khan’s account while he remains in prison.
PTA said its requests included details of Khan’s convictions in several cases, for which he is serving more than 30 years in prison.
According to media reports, PTA also raised concerns about the lack of cooperation from international social media companies. The report stated that these platforms “do not consider themselves bound by the laws of other countries” and that while they offer complaint systems, it is difficult to block specific content due to technical limitations.
PTA added that it could try to block access to such platforms on a best effort basis but encryption and secure networks make this difficult.
