US and international organizations demand Pakistan lift social media restrictions amid democracy fears

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The world reacted to sporadic Internet shutdowns and social media disruptions in Pakistan on Wednesday, with the US State Department confirming that Washington had officially urged the Pakistani administration to lift digital restrictions, while other international organizations raised concerns for democracy and media freedom.

Pakistani social media users have only managed to access platform X intermittently since Saturday when a senior government official made a public admission of vote manipulation in the February 8 general elections which triggered a politically charged debate in the country.

The electoral contest was marred by a nationwide outage of cellphone networks and delays in results by election officials, raising widespread speculation of rigging and leading to protests by several political parties in different parts of the country.

“We are concerned by any reports of restrictions on the exercise of the freedom of expression and association in Pakistan, including the partial or complete government-imposed Internet shutdowns, which includes, of course, on social media platforms,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a media briefing.

He informed that Washington had asked Pakistan to respect freedom of expression and “restore access to any social media that has been restricted, including Twitter, I think now known as X.”

Asked if these concerned had been communicated through official channels, Miller responded in the affirmative.

Prior to that, Netblocks, a London-based Internet monitor, also took notice of the social media disruption and commented on its implications in a post.

“Metrics show that X/Twitter remains largely restricted in #Pakistan past the four-day mark; imposed on Saturday as disclosures relating to election fraud circulated on the platform, the measure significantly hinders the exercise of democracy and media freedom,” it said.

Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ), a press freedom organization, also reacted to the development, urging the Pakistan government to ensure “free flow of information to facilitate media reporting about post-election issues in Pakistan.”

The Sindh High Court also took up a case against the ongoing blockade of X on Wednesday, instructing the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to restore the social media platform.