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ISLAMABAD: Micro-blogging website Twitter, a platform that has in recent years become integral to political parties, stands in danger of being banned because of the government’s inability to force the tech giant to bend to its notions of what is suitable for public consumption or falls within the constitutional realm of legitimate free speech.
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) informed the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat that while Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms complied with requests from the government to block objectionable content, Twitter did not oblige.
“Out of a hundred requests from Pakistan to block certain offensive material, roughly five per cent are entertained. Twitter ignores all the remaining requests,” Director General of PTA’s Internet Policy and Web Analysis, Nisar Ahmed, told the committee.
The committee met for a briefing on penalties fixed by the PTA against ‘derogatory’ comments spreading through social media targeting the state, its citizens and its institutions.
Mr Ahmed informed the committee about last week’s Islamabad High Court (IHC) directive to the regulatory body to serve Twitter with a final notice, asking the website to respond to requests from Pakistan or face the risk of being blocked in the country.
“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,” said Mr Ahmed. He further explained to the committee members that the IHC had taken notice of the increase in objectionable content posted on social media websites.
The official told the committee that Twitter was not as popular in Pakistan as Facebook, and so they had little to lose if Twitter was blocked. However, the platform would lose business if it was shut down in the country, the senior official told the members. “The court is determined to teach Twitter a lesson — they will lose business,” he added.
He informed the committee that Facebook had been extremely cooperative with Pakistan, and had obliged when asked to block content that might be perceived offensive.
“In fact, Facebook has appointed a focal person to address the concerns from Pakistan. The focal person is a Pakistani national who understands the traditions, customs and concerns of our society. YouTube is now also offering a local version in the country and removing offensive material, and the website is no longer an issue,” the official elaborated.
According to the PTA, social media websites such as Facebook, YouTube and DailyMotion now saw Pakistan as an emerging information technology market, which they could tap into to exponentially grow their businesses.
“These companies do not only wish to keep growing in Pakistan, but have also planned to bring underdeveloped cities and towns out of — through training programmes — their current states to put them on a par with developed areas,” Mr Ahmed concluded.
When Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf information secretary Fawad Chaudhry was contacted for his views on the matter, he said that his party was against any kind of censorship on free media.
“Those who do not wish to see objectionable and offensive content should not search for such content. Social media is not just for recreation and entertainment. There are jobs and households associated with the business. Blocking social media websites will have both social and economic impacts,” said Mr Chaudhry, who is tipped to become information minister in the new government.
In the past, similar attempts have been made to block the spread of social media: Facebook was banned in the country twice in 2008 and then again in 2010. In September 2012, following government directions, the PTA blocked access to YouTube throughout the country and it remained inaccessible for over two years.
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2018
Comments (53) Closed
Must block it.its a useless app
Block it,, no questions.....
Twitter is not famous in Pakistan. The most stupid rationale i would have ever seen in news.
Better still, shut down Internet.
Shut it down.
Priorities of our regressive institutions.
“Those who do not wish to see objectionable and offensive content should not search for such content..."
Couldn't agree more with Mr Chaudhry.
Whats stopping twitter from censoring offensive material? In this age of vast fake news, misogyny, and racist and hate speech, it is strange that twitter damn cares about preventing offensive material. A ban would be a befitting recourse
How can we compromise on Free speach. Those saying to block it prefer to be chained to their masters
Twitter users in Pakistan may not be as high as Facebook or Instagram but those who use it, do use it regularly. Politicians, celebrities, sports personnels, common folks like me, we all use Twitter to convey our thoughts to the world in easy way. And there is a popular saying: with great power, comes great responsibility. Many use this power to bring change in our society and shutting Twitter down isn't the solution.
Must be blocked immediately in Pakistan.
@Gopal why indians are worried
Its an act against Democracy they want to clamp down Maryam tweets. Nothing more than that.
Heading towards cave age .
We have every right to block it as the US does the same with what they object to.....
Social media platforms are not meant for backward, oppressive, ill-informed societies.
Why do we have so many "objections"? Ever questioned that?
There are other applications similar to Twitter now and more on coming.
Whenever you do a business in certain state then you have to follow the laws of that very land. . Twitter must act responsibly. .
our state our rules!! simple is that!
And so it begins!
A fake democracy in action
Take immediate action without fail...
If you subscribe to an ideology that can't stand up to open criticism - then you need to forsake that ideology.
Objectionable material should be blocked in specific countries where it's prohibited as it leads to conflict. People get killed over what they shared on social media. It's a dangerous game. However, instead of blocking a whole page; filtering is more effective
shut down is not a solutions. Be like China who run their own server to control the contents.
Ridiculous! They want an North Korea like internet or what?
@Wazir - for someone who thinks Twitter is an 'app', you surely do have strong opinions.
Shut it down people can spend time on some productive things
Legitimate freedom of speech. This is a paradox.
When there are complains, who is having issue in blocking?
internet be free from governments control.twitter should resist such dictates of government.
I love PTI's reply to this. Gone are the days of PMLN censorship, this is Naya Pakistan.
@Truthhurts Where did he quote that he's worried? He suggested a better solution. Get better interpretational skills
@Truthhurts because already Pakistanis have no clue on reality due to lack of proper education ....the ban will further push is down a black hole..and we don't want illinformed neighbours.
So now they even want to censor free media and internet? So called 'Free State'. We have every right to use the internet freely and without any restrictions. It is not someone's property.
Ban it.
@ajay very true.
@MA better ban mobile and TV, more time will be available for productive things.
Block it...
Its not useless, but for the betterment of Pakistan nothing is valuable than our country..
fawad said well no one shall block it, freedom is what we are living for otherwise we are animals of cage
Block it if twitter is not responding to authority letters
@waleed If you are not using anything it doesn't mean the thing is useless.(no Offence)
@Wazir then don't use
Must be block.
Do not be emotional. There are pros and cons of every application. My suggestion!!
Do not block any application that put Pakistan as a Dark spot on the Globe. Let people communicate freely and with the speed of electrons. Let Pakistan be informed about rest of the World and let Pakistan to grow.
I dont get it, if its offensive to you, dont watch it. Whats with the 'my way or high way' mentality?
@waleed Kindly read it once again. The news says,"Twitter was not as popular in Pakistan as Facebook".
To be honest ... you guys need to understand that you can never police the entire world and bend it to the way you want things to work or your concepts in Pakistan. If you dont like what you see then dont search for it ... blocking in Pakistan doesnt mean it will be deleted all together but it means it can be accessed still ... if you have an IT background and enough knowledge to bypass the firewall blockage ... just like most people were still accessing facebook and youtube while it was blocked ....
anyway this will fall on deaf ears i am sure ......
i am not on twitter so it means nothing to me. Having said that, it should not be banned because " its useless app" or "its not famous in Pakistan"
There should be parental locks on these social apps but other than that it should be up to the people searching,
Looks like the zia era is back in pakistan.
Blocking twitter is not going to solve anything the offense content will still remain and all of the major stakeholders (i.e. politictions,press personal,business owners) in pakistan use Twitter.
India also must follow suit. Kudos to Pakistan for d bold step.