Govt should block social media: PTA

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Friday said the government should build the authority's capacity to block offensive material on the websites or block social media like many countries do.

The PTA dismissed the reports attributed to its chairperson recommending the blocking of social media websites, saying they were "entirely false". "The media reports of PTA recommending blocking of social media websites are entirely false," a tweet from PTA Pakistan read. Earlier in the day, it was reported that PTA Chairperson Amir Azeem Bajwa had recommended the government to block social media websites in the country.

Briefing a Senate Standing Committee, PTA Chairperson Amir Azeem Bajwa said there is blasphemous content on the social media and several fake accounts. He added majority of the websites are being operated from outside the country. The PTA chairperson called on the government to formulate a policy to block social media networks. He recommended like in China and UAE, indigenous social networking websites should be developed.

Bajwa said the government had tasked PTA to formulate social media rules, which would be presented soon. According to the chairperson, since 2010 over 39,000 links were blocked and dispelled the impression that Pakistan is one of the leading countries where child pornography is being generated. Bajwa informed the committee that 8,000 websites related to pornography were blocked.

Further, the PTA chairperson said it received 8,000 complaints regarding blasphemous content for which over 40,000 websites were blocked. Commenting on the dark web, Bajwa said it was hard to control.