Social media apps restored

PAKISTAN restored Facebook, Twitter and several other social media apps last Friday (16) after blocking them for about five hours on security grounds amid the crackdown against a violent Islamist group, officials said.

“In order to maintain public order and safety, access to certain social media applications has been restricted temporarily,” a senior telecommunications authority official said, without specifying which social media.

The interior ministry said in a statement the block lasted until 1500 local time (1000 GMT) and applied to YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram and Tiktok.

“Access to social media applications has been restored,” the telecom authority later stated.

Pakistan last week banned the Islamist group Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) after the arrest of its leader sparked major protests. A second security source said that the block on social media was linked to maintaining public order as an operation was underway against the group.

“As the government announced earlier...wherever we need we will be blocking social media to crack down against Tehrik-i-Labaiak,” he said, on condition of anonymity.