X (previously Twitter), which has surpassed nine months of suspension in Pakistan, turned down several requests made by the government for content removal, an official has claimed, according to a report by Dawn.com.
The official told the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday that X rejected the government’s requests because it did not find the reported content to be in violation of the platform’s guidelines.
The documents were submitted by Additional Attorney General Ziaul Haq Makhdoom as the court heard petitions filed by various individuals against the restrictions on social media and internet shutdowns during and after the February 8 general elections.
The report submitted by the official added that X demanded additional information related to the flagged content for review. The report does not elaborate on the number of requests the government made seeking removal of content from X in Pakistan.
The next hearing is scheduled for October 17, 2024.
X was banned on February 17 in Pakistan, over a week after the country went to polls. For months, despite public outcry and calls for transparency from digital rights activists and civil society collectives, the government neither issued a statement nor was there any clarity as to why the platform was banned abruptly.
After several petitions were filed against the arbitrary ban in the SHC, Islamabad High Court (IHC), and the Peshawar High Court (PHC), the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) disclosed that X had been banned on the interior ministry’s orders, which cited unspecified threats to national security.
Various statements from government officials have surfaced since X’s blocking, including Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claiming that X was accessible amid the ban. He only went on to contradict himself that X was already blocked by the caretaker setup when the coalition government came into power.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari, on the other hand, remarked last month that social media platforms should be blocked if they cannot be regulated. Despite cyber legislative frameworks such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, or PECA, already in place, the minister claimed social media is regulated all over the world except in Pakistan.
There is no prospect of the restoration of X in the country so far.
