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Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has defended the government’s decision to restrict access to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), asserting that it falls within the government’s authority to take actions deemed beneficial for Pakistan’s interests, VOA reported on Monday.
In a thinly veiled reference to Washington’s actions regarding TikTok’s ties with its Chinese parent company, Dar questioned the justification of other countries banning certain apps while criticizing Pakistan’s ban on Twitter.
“Certainly, the country will make decisions based on various reasons that led to the suspension,” Dar said.
The Sindh High Court granted the government one week to revoke the ban, citing the lack of reasons provided in the interior ministry’s letter and its failure to adhere to established protocols for blocking harmful online content.
The interior ministry justified the suspension of X, citing its lack of local registration and failure to comply with requests to remove content defaming the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Haroon Baloch from Bytes for All, an organization focusing on information and communication technologies, viewed the local registration requirement as an attempt to exert control over companies and access users’ data.
“Pakistani authorities aimed to have data of Pakistani social media users stored within Pakistan rather than outside the country,” he said.