Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Major General (R) Hafeezur Rehman, announced on Monday that the authority plans to block all illegal Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in Pakistan. He made these remarks during a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecom in Islamabad.
The chairman informed the committee that the PTA has already registered 20,500 VPNs and is actively working to expand this number. While unauthorized VPN usage, especially for accessing blocked platforms like X (formerly Twitter), remains a concern, the chairman clarified that immediate action against illegal VPNs is not on the cards. Instead, the PTA intends to tackle the issue more aggressively once the registration process is more comprehensive.
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Rehman also revealed that the PTA receives approximately 150 complaints daily related to social media platforms, with TikTok accounting for 98% of these complaints. Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) represent 48%, while YouTube makes up 52%.
Regarding the future of X in Pakistan, Interior Ministry officials shared that cases concerning the platform are currently being heard in the Islamabad, Sindh, and Lahore High Courts. During the Senate session, the legality of using VPNs to access X was questioned. Interior Ministry officials confirmed that using VPNs to access the platform is illegal. In response, a senator questioned why the Prime Minister himself was reportedly using a VPN to express his views on the platform.
Another senator raised concerns about why X cannot be completely blocked in Pakistan if it is already restricted. However, PTA officials and representatives of the federal government could not provide a satisfactory explanation.
