The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed relevant authorities to ensure uninterrupted internet access for all citizens until the general elections on February 8.
The court’s order, issued on Wednesday, prohibits the authorities from suspending internet services and has mandated the respondents to submit their response by January 29. The petition, filed by advocate and human rights activist Jibran Nasir, addresses the frequent suspension of internet services in the country.
As political campaigning intensifies ahead of the upcoming elections, users have experienced multiple internet outages in recent days. Last week’s nationwide internet outage, affecting social media platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube, was attributed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to a “technical fault” in its optic fiber network.
The PTA assured that the issue had been rectified, and internet services were fully restored. Reports of disruptions to Google services and the internet service provider PTCL were also noted. The relationship between the state and media freedoms has reportedly deteriorated in the past two years due to increased censorship, violence against journalists, and government disregard for critical media.
A report titled “Under Siege: Legislative, Judicial and Executive Actions Stifling Freedom of Expression and Right to Information,” part of the annual state of digital journalism series by the Institute of Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA), highlighted the blocking of 1.1 million URLs, including 187 mobile applications, by the PTA.
Approximately 200,000 of these blocked or removed URLs were related to contempt of court, defense of Pakistan, glorification of Islam, defamatory content, and sectarian/hate speech.
The report also revealed numerous content removal requests from the Pakistani government to major tech platforms such as Google, Meta, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter). For instance, between January 2021 and June 2022, Meta restricted access in Pakistan to 12,001 items reported by the PTA for allegedly violating local laws.