‘X’ blocked due to non-compliance of directives:  Interior Ministry

ISLAMABAD: The government finally admitting to blocking of social media platform X has said that it failed to adhere to the directives made by the Pakistani authorities.

In a 21-page reply submitted to the Islamabad High Court, the Ministry of Interior said that the ban was ‘necessitated’ after X did not respond to multiple requests by the government.

The government has also claimed that the site was blocked on the basis of intelligence reports.

“Twitter has not complied with the requests of Pakistani authorities rather demonstrated a lack of responsiveness to Pakistan’s concerns regarding offensive material uploaded on their platform or trends that undermine the sovereignty and dignity of Pakistan,” the ministry said.

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The reply added that the Federal Investigation Agency has forwarded numerous requests to X to block accounts involved in defamatory campaign against the chief justice.

“This lack of cooperation from Twitter/X in addressing content that violates Pakistani laws and values further justifies the need for regulatory measures including the temporary ban,” the reply added.

The statement also added that X was blocked on the ministry’s directives by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on February 17 after reports from intelligence agencies.

The ministry said that the confidential intelligence reports can be shown to the court if needed.

The ministry also said that the unchecked dissemination of fake news can pose a threat to society.