{"id":44997,"date":"2024-01-07T15:36:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T15:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/social-media-internet-services-reportedly-disrupted-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-07T15:36:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T15:36:07","slug":"social-media-internet-services-reportedly-disrupted-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/social-media-internet-services-reportedly-disrupted-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media, internet services reportedly disrupted | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Internet monitoring service Netblocks on Sunday reported a widespread disruption in social media platforms across Pakistan, including X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.<\/p>\n

The disruption, affecting the nation at large, occurred hours before Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was about to launch its virtual election fundraising telethon, which is scheduled to begin at 9pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cLive metrics show a nation-scale disruption to social media platforms across #Pakistan, including X\/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube; the incident comes as persecuted former PM Imran Khan’s party, PTI, launches its election fundraising telethon,\u201d Netblocks said in a post shared on X.<\/p>\n

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\u26a0\ufe0f Confirmed: Live metrics show a nation-scale disruption to social media platforms across #Pakistan<\/a>, including X\/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube; the incident comes as persecuted former PM Imran Khan’s party, PTI, launches its election fundraising telethon pic.twitter.com\/QIBGcxGty3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 7, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Users in major cities such as Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad began experiencing difficulties accessing social media platforms shortly after 6 pm. Additionally, complaints regarding sluggish internet services surfaced among the affected users.<\/p>\n

Read more: Twitter fixes links outage that hit thousands of users<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Downdetector also reported that all major social media platforms were disrupted across Pakistan.<\/p>\n

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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is yet to provide an official statement on the cause of the disruption.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, PTI leader Sayed Zulfi Bukhari said that the internet services were shut down to stop the party\u2019s fundraiser.<\/p>\n

PTI, on its official X handle, termed the development shameful, demanding that the Caretaker IT Minister should resign.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that social media and internet services have been disrupted in the country. On December 17, a similar blockage was reported before a PTI virtual rally<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is pertinent to mention that the disruption of the internet and social media services incurred\u00a0billions of rupees worth of losses to Pakistan\u2019s telecom sector.<\/p>\n

The suspension affected e-commerce, online services, home delivery and ride-hailing apps to a great extent.<\/p>\n

The decision to shut down internet and social media services in past has been criticised by many human rights activists and journalists, who claimed that it was a violation of the right to freedom of expression and access to information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n