Pakistani authorities said on Wednesday that access to Platform X had been blocked in the country due to non-compliance with the law and non-cooperation with the government.
The Ministry of Interior said in a statement forwarded to the Islamabad High Court that X was temporarily blocked after it failed to respond to a request to block several individual accounts.
“The Cybercrime Division of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has forwarded a number of requests to Twitter/X authorities through the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, calling for significant action to block accounts involved in a smear campaign against the Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan,” it said, adding that X did not comply the request and “showed a lack of responsiveness to Pakistan’s concerns”.
“Twitter representatives do not comply with local authorities and laws in Pakistan. This lack of cooperation with Twitter/X in dealing with content that violates Pakistani laws and values has further justified the need for regulatory action, including a temporary ban on Twitter,” the statement said.
The ministry informed the Supreme Court that hostile elements operating on X have “evil” intentions to create an environment of chaos in Pakistan which has forced the authorities to block access to the social media platform.
The Pakistani government has blocked open access to X since February 17 following an investigation into rigging during the general election.
The ban was imposed after Liaqat Ali Chattha, an election officer in the city of Rawalpindi, publicly claimed that he had allegedly changed election results in his area. A video of his exchange with journalists appeared on social networks.
The government, as well as Pakistan’s Election Commission, have denied any irregularities in the election, AA writes.
