A petition has been filed with the Sindh High Court (SHC) against the repeated internet disruptions in the country.
The application, initiated by Jibran Nasir — a social activist and an independent candidate in the upcoming February 8 polls — calls on the court to take notice of the “targeted” connectivity outages that have taken place over the past month, most recently on January 20, 2024.
According to NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages globally, Twitter (now X), YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram were among the leading platforms affected by the nationwide disruption.
⚠️ Confirmed: Live metrics show a nation-scale disruption to social media platforms across #Pakistan, including X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube; the incident comes as persecuted opposition leader Imran Khan's political party, PTI, launches its second virtual gathering pic.twitter.com/lwl24Kv5td
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 20, 2024
The widespread outages affected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s virtual events, including the party’s online rally and fundraiser, eliciting a strong and flared response from social media activists, politicians, and civil society advocates.
Big Update on Internet/Social Media Shutdown! Alhumdulillah Sindh High Court on my petition today as an Independent Candidate and citizen has taken notice of the repeated internet and social media disruptions caused by PTA which appear to target #PTI but also causes loss to all… pic.twitter.com/FRGaPzZNJV
— M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 (@MJibranNasir) January 24, 2024
The SHC has taken up the petition and sent notices to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and other authorities concerned. The disruptions are not only causing hurdles in political campaigning, but also resulting in economic losses amounting to a billion rupees a day, the complaint says.
The petition, in particular, calls for smooth and uninterrupted access to the internet in the days leading up to the election, allowing political parties to carry out their online electoral campaigns without any formulated obstacles from state authorities.
The complaint further adds that social media platforms help candidates run their campaigns effectively, but repeated disruptions are causing a setback to their activities.
The court has issued directives to ensure uninterrupted internet access throughout the duration of the polls. The next hearing will take place on January 29, 2024.
