Pakistan threatens to ban social media platforms over non-compliance

Pakistan's Minister of State for Law and Justice, Barrister Aqeel Mallik, has urged social media platforms to crack down on accounts linked to militant groups. He also threatened to initiate actions against social media platforms, as serious as banning them in the case of non-compliance. Pakistan have faced several terror attacks from terror fronts like Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, and the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. At a news conference in Islamabad, Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry said that several accounts were operating from Afghanistan, India and other countries, spreading hate and extremist content.

Pakistan is at a crossroads with X

According to reports from Dawn, social media platform X is unwilling to cooperate with the Pakistani government. Pakistan has reportedly asked social media platforms to open an office in Pakistan. X has approximately 4.5 million users in Pakistan and was blocked in 2024, following the general election. However, it was later revoked. It has also briefly banned YouTube and TikTok. Barrister Mallik has accused X of double standards. While posts related to Palestine were deleted and accounts were blocked within 24 hours, accounts spreading misinformation and propaganda are allowed without any restriction.

Talal Chadhury and other investigators have allegedly identified 19 X platforms which operate from India. More than two dozen additional such accounts are active from Afghanistan, some with apparent ties to the Afghan Taliban government, he said. He has warned these platforms, drawing similarities with Brazil, reminding these social media platforms of the hefty fine of $5.2 million. Pakistan's government, earlier in 2025, passed a controversial bill which gives it sweeping control over social media platforms.