KARACHI: A restriction on access to social media platform Facebook was reported to be in effect across multiple service providers in the country, Dawn.com reported on Wednesday, which saw Pakistan observe Youm-i-Ashura to pay homage to Imam Husain and other martyrs of Karbala.

NetBlocks said authorities “typically restrict mobile internet services” on the occasion.

Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users, also showed that user reports indicated problems in accessing Facebook.

Instagram and Facebook are both owned by Meta.

The Balochistan government had already previously decided to suspend mobile phone and internet services in Quetta and some other sensitive districts during four days of Muharram.

Earlier, the Punjab government had requested the interior ministry to shut down social media apps on the internet from Muharram 6 to 11 to control the dissemination of hate material and misinformation in a bid to avoid sectarian violence.

The Ministry of Interior had deferred a decision on the Punjab government’s request for the suspension of six social media platforms for around a week.

Last week, the interior minister said that since the suspension of internet or mobile services created difficulties for citizens, such decisions would be made after considering ground realities and the secu-rity situation.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024