Social media, internet services suspended as rumours swirl

ISLAMABAD: On the instruction of the Ministry of Interior, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday blocked mobile broadband services in the whole country. Social media such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and others also witnessed disruptions in different parts of the country.

In the aftermath of the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in Islamabad on Tuesday, the social media displayed clips of violence in different parts of the country after which the broadband services of mobile were blocked in the country. Then the social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube services were found unavailable.

When this scribe contacted the PTA spokesperson on Tuesday night, she replied that mobile broadband services were blocked in the whole country. However, she was of the view that they were receiving complaints about disruptions of social media platforms but could not confirm them at that stage.

The sources said that when social media aired clips of unwarranted episodes in different parts of the country, the services of Twitter and YouTube started witnessing disruptions around 8 pm in different parts. Then social media services got slowed down and nothing was being uploaded on it.