Social Media restricted in Pakistan until 3 PM to maintain “law and order”

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has temporarily restricted the social media services in the country, to maintain law and order for certain period of time.

The interior ministry sent a letter, dated today April 16th, to the authority that led to the instant blockade of the social media services including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Telegram. According to the letter, the restriction would be lifted on/after 3 PM.

“I am directed to refer to the subject cited above and to state that complete access to social media platforms (twitter, facebook, whatsapp, youtube and telegram) may be blocked from 1100hrs to 1500hrs on 16th April 2021 across the country,” reads the letter in short. “It is requested that immediate action may be taken on the subject matter under intimation to this ministry.”

Letter Subject: Complete Blocking of Social Media Platforms. To the chairman PTA.

In a tweet prior to the action of banning, PTA stated that a temporary restriction on a certain social media applications is to maintain public order and safety.

The restriction is imposed amid ongoing protests by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in the country that caused violent chaos and the killing of a couple of people including policemen. The country-wide protest also caused major traffic jams across cities.

The government, yesterday on Thursday, ordered PEMRA – the electronic media authority in the country to ban the coverage of TLP on all tv and radio channels.