Social media companies have ignored the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s registration demands for five consecutive years, the regulator disclosed in a submission to the Islamabad High Court. PTA first requested compliance with Rule 7 of the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content Rules, 2021 in October 2021, and five years later, not a single platform has responded to the request. Rule 7 requires social media companies to register with PTA and appoint local compliance and grievance officers in Pakistan. The authority told the court it has not received an affirmative response from the companies so far, while also acknowledging that social media platforms are generally not licensed by the telecom regulator and that unregistered platforms do not come directly under its control. This regulatory gap creates a fundamental enforcement problem, since PTA can request content removal from platforms, but companies assess those requests under their own community guidelines and frequently reject them, leaving the authority with blocking entire websites on a best effort basis as its main alternative, a measure that disrupts lawful content access for millions of Pakistani users.
Technical limitations compound the legal gaps. PTA explained to the court that Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google and X all use HTTPS encryption, which prevents intermediary network operators from identifying the specific content or internet address being accessed. This means PTA can see which platform users visit but cannot identify or block specific posts, videos or pages without platform cooperation, limiting its enforcement options largely to blocking entire domains rather than targeting individual pieces of content.
Despite these constraints, PTA disclosed content blocking rates across platforms from 1.789 million reviewed links. TikTok led at 88.68 percent, followed by YouTube at 87.34 percent, Instagram at 79.52 percent, and Facebook at 78.57 percent, while X trailed significantly at just 48.42 percent. The overall blocking rate reached 88.20 percent, though these figures represent full URL blocks rather than selective content moderation, meaning the numbers reflect how often entire pages or videos were taken down rather than more targeted interventions.
The court proceedings stem from Writ Petition No. 4163 of 2026, which sought restrictions on children’s social media access. PTA confirmed that no law currently exists to ban social media use by children under 16 and stated that a new legal and policy framework is necessary to address online threats to minors. A Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority is being established under the PECA Amendment 2025, while cybercrime enforcement has shifted to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency. The five year non-compliance pattern exposes the limits of Pakistan’s current regulatory framework, since without registration, PTA cannot mandate local grievance officers, enforce content standards, or hold platforms accountable through domestic legal channels, and the court proceedings may now be the mechanism that forces legislative action where voluntary compliance has not materialized.
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