After experiencing a brief period of recovery yesterday, X, previously known as Twitter, finds itself suspended once again for the fourth consecutive day. Users are facing difficulties accessing the social media platform, with service disruptions persisting in Pakistan since February 17. The outage coincided with the announcement by Rawalpindi’s commissioner, Liaqat Ali Chattha, of his intention to surrender to the police. Chattha confessed to manipulating the recent general elections, admitting to altering tens of thousands of votes and personally overseeing the modification of 70,000 votes to change the outcome.
This extended suspension of X in Pakistan marks the longest outage ever experienced in the country, as indicated by the hundreds of disruption reports flooding website outage tracker Downdetector from across the nation. Users are reporting an inability to load their feeds or access any content on their X accounts.
The decision to suspend X has sparked questions regarding its underlying rationale, with some speculating about potential political motives behind the move. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the impact of the suspension on freedom of expression and access to information within the country.
READ MORE: PTA Urges Nayatel, PTCL, Zong, and Telenor to Settle Bandwidth Dispute Within 3 Days
Despite the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) being the regulatory body overseeing telecommunications and digital services, it has opted to maintain neutrality on the matter. Sources within the PTA have clarified that the authority played no role in the decision to suspend X in Pakistan. Instead, responsibility for the suspension has been attributed to the Ministry of Interior, which holds authority over national security and digital regulations. However, the Ministry has yet to offer detailed explanations or justifications for the ban, leaving users and stakeholders seeking clarity on the issue.
In response to the ban, some social media users have resorted to using virtual private networks (VPNs) as a means to bypass restrictions and access X’s services.
