Pakistani digital rights activists call nationwide disruption of X ‘blatant violation’ of civil liberties

KARACHI: Digital rights activists and cybersecurity experts on Sunday called a shutdown of social media platform X in Pakistan a “blatant violation” of civil liberties, saying it would trigger further disinformation in the South Asian nation.
Netblocks, a UK-based Internet watchdog, on Saturday confirmed a “national-scale” disruption of X that began amid protests by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other parties against alleged rigging of Feb. 8 national election in the country.
Access to the platform was temporarily restored on Sunday morning before it was blocked again. While it is not clear what led to the situation, social media shutdowns have mostly been witnessed in the country during periods of political unrest and volatility.
“This is a blatant violation of civil liberties. It’s not good for democracy,” said Nighat Dad, a leading Pakistani digital rights activist and lawyer, adding the shutdown of the Internet or any specific social media platform would not help tackle the issues of disinformation or security.
“Instead, it will create chaos and trigger more disinformation. If the government is faced with a security issue or the problem of disinformation, it will have to devise a proper framework keeping proportionality and necessity at the heart of such a policy. Blanket shutdown is not a solution.”
When contacted, Malahat Obaid, director of public relations at the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), said the interior ministry should be reached out for a comment on the matter.
Last week’s indecisive national election in Pakistan was marred by a nationwide mobile service shutdown that was followed by delays in polls results, leading to accusations that the election was rigged and drawing concerns from rights groups and foreign governments.
A cybersecurity specialist at a private Pakistani firm, who wished to remain anonymous, said repeated shutdowns of social media platforms and other services “are now beyond logic.”
“There is no official notification explaining this has happened or why it has happened, we hear justifications later that make no sense,” he told Arab News, adding people who wanted access to these platforms would find out a way.
“Nothing is absolutely blocked on the Internet anymore. If this is a sign of things to come, I don’t know who will have confidence in a digital Pakistan?“
The outage of X was observed after Khan’s PTI and other parties held countrywide demonstrations against alleged manipulation of election results.
“Live metrics show a new national-scale disruption to X/Twitter in #Pakistan amid escalating unrest and protests over allegations of election fraud, following a high-level resignation and public admission of vote manipulation by a senior election official,” Netblocks said on Saturday night.
Political tensions and uncertainty increased on Saturday after a top bureaucrat held a news conference, wherein he admitted to altering election results in 13 national and 26 provincial constituencies by misusing his administrative powers.
In the past, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have also faced restrictions, coinciding with political events, indicating a pre-emptive approach by authorities to curtail the mobilization and dissemination of dissenting views.