ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan’s communications authority has admitted in court papers that it was ordered by the Interior Ministry to shut down social media platform X – now in its fifth week of outages.
The newly-elected government has been evasive over the censorship of the micro-blogging site formerly known as Twitter, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk.
Activists who are challenging the shutdown in the Sindh High Court have said it was designed to quash dissent after February 8 polls fraught by rigging claims.
Court documents filed by lawyers of Pakistan’s Telecommunication Authority (PTA) implicated espionage agencies in the government’s order of February 17.
“On the reports of the intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Interior… asked for blocking of X (Twitter) immediately till further orders,” said the documents shared by prosecution lawyers on Thursday.
