WTX Internet monitoring network has discovered that social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, has been restricted in Pakistan for 24 hours.
Earlier today, the director Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital rights, Usama Khilji had said that X was inaccessible for many except via select VPNs.
“The latest and longest in a series of nation-scale internet censorship measures imposed by authorities as reports of election fraud emerge”.
WTX Business Team
Social Media Platform X restricted in Paksitan amid reports of election rigging
The development had come after Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha accused the Election Commission of Pakistan and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of involvement in ‘rigging’ — a claim denied by the electoral watchdog and the top judge.
“Most users complaining their VPNs are also blocked and internet is slow,” he said, noting that there was no official word from the telecom authority or the IT minister “whose job is to ensure seamless internet access”.
Nationwide suspension of mobile phone services on election day
IT all started with the nationwide suspension of mobile phone services on election day. Poll managers might not have realised that this suspension would aggravate political chaos, which could lead towards a demand for fresh elections.
Though the caretaker government claimed it had suspended mobile phone services due to security concerns, the Election Commission and other concerned departments and ministries were reportedly unaware a day before the election whether a suspension would be necessary.