PTA Processed Over 20,000 URLs For Blocking In Pakistan Since September 2022

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has processed more than 20,000 URLs for blocking involved in illegal activities. According to the reports, up till now, PTA has processed almost 1,226,890 URLs for blocking till 22 December 2022.

According to the reports and analysis, 1,226,890 applications were processed by PTA. Social media platforms blocked 1,153,722 URLs, whereas 62,692 URLs are still accessible. Though, different social media platforms denied the blocking of 10,467 URLs.

On the other hand, before blocking the URLs, PTA sent the requests for blocking 140,221 URLs to Facebook. Out of which, Facebook blocked around 118,210 URLs.

In contrast, PTA sent 11,950 URLs to Instagram till 22 December 2022. Out of which, Instagram has blocked 8,944 URLs, whereas 2,836 are still accessible.

If we talk about Twitter, PTA sent 67,166 URLs for blocking. Out of which, Twitter has blocked only 34,010.
PTA has requested the blocking of 45,502 URLs from YouTube till December. Therefore, YouTube has blocked around 38,587 URLs, and 4,714 are still active.

According to the latest report, till December 2022, PTA has processed 71,372 URLs to TikTok for blocking. TikTok has blocked 70,162 URLs. The social media platform has rejected to stop 251 URLs.

These platforms and Like and Snack Video have also requested to block specific URLs. The count is nearly 5000 for both platforms. Still, the platform has denied the blocking of a few URLs.

Until the end of this year, PTA has requested Daily motions to block 591 accounts. The platform blocked around 545 URLs and denied blocking 32 URLs.

Hence, PTA has sent requests for blocking 885,157 URLs to other social media platforms. Out of which, these platforms have blocked 878,471 URLs. Whereas 6,426 are still active and in use.

Alas, PTA says these URLs have been received from various resources and through proactive search. PTA has taken a step and created a dedicated email and Complaint Management System (CMS) to facilitate citizens to report objectionable content.
According to PTA, complaints were launched through the PM portal in writing with full disclosure.