Pakistan announces 6-day ban on all social media to control ‘hate material’ during Ramadan

The Pakistan government is set to ban all social media platforms -- YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok -- for six days during July 13-18 to control “hate material” during the holy of Ramadan. 

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s cabinet committee on law and order has recommended banning of all social media platforms -- YouTube, X, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, among others -- during 6 to 11 Muharram (July 13-18) in Punjab, a province of over 120 million people, to “control hate material, misinformation to avoid sectarian violence”, according to a Punjab government notification issued here late Thursday night. 

The Pakistan government had earlier successfully blocked X (formerly Twitter) for over four months.  

The Punjab government of Maryam Nawaz has requested Shehbaz Sharif’s government to notify the suspension of all social media platforms on internet for six days (July 13-18). Shehbaz Sharif is uncle of Maryam Nawaz. 

Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir has already declared social media a “vicious media” and underscored the need to fight what he called “digital terrorism”. 

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, who also holds the portfolio of foreign minister, recently called for placing a complete ban on social media. 

The Shehbaz government had shut down X (formally Twitter) since February amid allegations of tampering in general election results by the Election Commission of Pakistan, apparently on the order of the military establishment, to stop jailed former cricketer Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, from coming to power. 

The military and the Pakistan government are receiving backlash on social media since the ouster of former PM Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. 

The Pakistan government had claimed that “hostile elements operating on Twitter/X have nefarious intentions to create an environment of chaos and instability, with the ultimate goal of destabilising the country and plunging it into some form of anarchy”.

(With PTI inputs)