The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has released data on social media content blocking over the last three and a half years, revealing the varying success rates across different categories.
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From January 2021 to June 2024, the lowest blocking rate was observed in the category of defamatory or impersonation content. Out of 13,305 URLs processed for blocking, only 7,353 were blocked, resulting in a 55.26 percent success rate.
Overall, during the last three and a half years, the PTA processed a total of 363,111 URLs across various categories of illegal content, with social media platforms blocking 307,610 of these URLs, leading to an overall blocking rate of 84.72 percent.
Content related to contempt of court followed, with the PTA processing 2,480 URLs in this category. Social media platforms blocked 1,496 of these, achieving a 60.32 percent blocking rate. Content against the security and defense of Pakistan had a slightly higher success rate. The PTA processed 101,682 URLs, with 74,224 blocked, reflecting a 73 percent rate of blocking.
In the category of miscellaneous content, the PTA processed 6,853 URLs, and social media platforms blocked 5,621 of them, leading to an 82.02 percent success rate.
The blocking rate was even higher for content against the glory of Islam, where 46,103 URLs were processed, and 37,479 were blocked, achieving an 81.45 percent success rate.
At the top end of the scale, sectarian and hate speech content saw a significant enforcement effort, with 34,673 URLs processed and 28,922 blocked, resulting in an 83.41 percent blocking rate.
The highest blocking rate was observed in the category of decency and morality, where 158,054 URLs were processed, and 152,646 were blocked, yielding a 96.46 percent success rate. Additionally, all 51 URLs related to proxy content were successfully blocked, achieving a 100 percent rate.
