Objectionable websites, accounts blocked, PTA tells PHC

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was informed on Thursday that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had blocked over 111,9000 objectionable websites and social media accounts in the country so far.

This was stated by the PTA lawyer, Jehanzeb Mehsud, who appeared before a two-member PHC bench consisting of Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Syed Arshad Ali.

When the court started the hearing, the petitioner, Sara Ali Khan, said contents were available on the social media platforms such as facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, etc, which was affecting our social values.

She said these contents were against our faith, religion and thus negatively affecting the young generation. The petitioner said the PTA had no mechanism to block such sites.

The petitioner sought the court directives to the PTA to block such sites and accounts permanently and introduce a filter that stops uploading of these contents.

The PTA lawyer submitted to the court that the websites that the petitioner had mentioned in the petition had already been blocked by the authority.

He said over 111,0000 contents had been removed but blocking them permanently was not possible as those interested in such contents accessed them by using the VPN.

The lawyer said the PTA had no such mechanism to filter such contents before uploading but efforts were being made as far as possible curb the practice.

Justice SM Attique Shah asked the PTA lawyer if there was any filtration mechanism, he said the contents could be deleted after uploading. We are deleting thousands of such contents on daily basis, he informed the court. The petitioner requested the court to put the Federal Investigation Agency on notice because the objectionable contents were present on networking websites. The court disposed of the case after hearing arguments from both sides. A detailed verdict would be released later.