The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked 1,542,800 URLs out of 1,726,303 complaints processed through July 2026, recording an overall blocking rate of 89.37 percent, according to data from Web Analysis Division (WAD) of the Authority. The figures indicate the scale of online content regulation based on complaints submitted to PTA, with nearly nine out of every ten processed URLs blocked during the period. Of the total 1,726,303 URLs processed, 1,542,800 were blocked, while 76,874 cases remained under review and 106,629 complaints were rejected. The largest share of blocked content was recorded under the Decency and Morality category, where PTA blocked 1,065,671 URLs out of 1,075,762 processed cases. This represented a blocking rate of 99.06 percent and accounted for nearly 69 percent of all URLs blocked by the Authority during the period.
The data further showed that the highest number of blocked URLs in a specific category was recorded under Others or Miscellaneous, with 891,772 URLs blocked out of 899,415 reported links. This represented a blocking rate of 99.15 percent. Among major social media platforms, Facebook recorded the highest number of blocked URLs in absolute terms, with 230,270 links blocked out of 287,362 processed complaints. TikTok followed with 170,231 URLs blocked, while Twitter, now known as X, recorded 74,236 blocked URLs. YouTube recorded the highest blocking rate among the major platforms, with 66,290 of 74,823 processed URLs blocked, resulting in a blocking rate of 88.6 percent. WhatsApp had 50,165 URLs blocked, representing a 90.53 percent blocking rate, while Instagram recorded 45,510 blocked URLs out of 54,327 processed cases, resulting in an 83.76 percent blocking rate. Other platforms also faced content restrictions, including SnackVideo with 7,225 blocked URLs, Bigo and Likee with 6,539, and Dailymotion with 562 blocked URLs.
PTA’s figures also covered several other categories of reported online content. Under the terrorism category, 141,897 URLs were blocked out of 179,285 processed cases, representing a blocking rate of 79.15 percent. A total of 112,482 URLs were blocked out of 136,891 processed cases under Against Glory of Islam, resulting in an 82.17 percent blocking rate. Under Against Security and Defence of Pakistan, PTA blocked 74,059 URLs out of 125,427 processed links, giving a blocking rate of 59.05 percent. The Sectarian and Hate Speech category recorded 52,776 blocked URLs out of 76,526 processed cases, representing a 68.96 percent rate. In the Miscellaneous category, 60,525 URLs were blocked from 67,778 processed cases, resulting in an 89.30 percent blocking rate. Meanwhile, 17,356 URLs were blocked out of 44,200 processed cases involving Defamatory or Impersonation content, giving a blocking rate of 39.27 percent. PTA also blocked 7,716 URLs out of 10,115 processed cases under Contempt of Court, representing a 76.28 percent blocking rate.
Proxy websites recorded one of the highest blocking rates in the data, with 10,318 URLs blocked out of 10,319 processed cases, resulting in a 99.99 percent blocking rate. Overall, the data shows that PTA processed more than 1.72 million URLs based on complaints through July 2026, with more than 1.54 million ultimately blocked. While the Authority rejected 106,629 requests, another 76,874 cases remained under review at the time covered by the figures. The overall blocking rate of 89.37 percent reflects the extent of content restrictions carried out following public complaints and across different categories of online material. The figures also demonstrate significant differences in blocking rates depending on the type of content and platform involved, ranging from 39.27 percent for Defamatory or Impersonation content to 99.99 percent for Proxy websites.
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