Twitter Threatens to Ban Operations in Pakistan

The Pakistan government threatens the micro-blogging website Twitter that it will be banned in the country as the government is unable to force Twitter to bend its notions as per the suitability of public consumption. Stating the reason behind the probable ban on Twitter, the Pak­istan Telecommuni­cation Authority (PTA) discloses that other social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and so on are ready to comply with the requests from the government regarding the need to block objectionable content, but the same is not obliged by Twitter.

Nisar Ahmed, the Director General of PTA’s Internet Policy and Web Analysis, says, “Out of a hundred requests from Pakistan to block certain offensive material, roughly five per cent are entertained. Twitter ignores all the remaining requests.”

The PTA has fixed penalties on the micro-blogging website due to the ‘derogatory’ comments found in the social media targeting the state, its citizens and its institutions and hence, have held a meeting to describe the penalties as well.

The committee is also being informed by Mr. Ahmed that it was only last week when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) served Twitter with a final notice wherein it asked the latter to respond to requests from Pakistan. This was also being conveyed that on non-compliance to the request, there is a risk of being blocked in the country as well.

Mr Ahmed further added, “The PTA has conveyed the court’s concern to Twitter, but has not got a response. The regulatory authority will implement court orders if Twitter does not respond to the final notice.”

History repeats itself and similar such attempts were seen in the past as well when Facebook was banned in Pakistan twice, i.e., in 2008 and in 2010. YouTube too faced the same issues as in September 2012, PTA blocked access to YouTube throughout the country following government directions. As a result of this blockade, YouTube remained inaccessible for over two years.