Are Facebook, Instagram blocked in Pakistan?

It has been become a norm with users in Pakistan are struggling for social media access, the similar trend is being witnessed in the country since Tuesday night (9th of Muharram) with users facing difficulty in accessing Facebook and Instagram.

The situation became more concerning for many, who run their livelihood via aforementioned websites, started speculations of an apparent ban since X (Twitter) has been currently banned in the country.

And Meta, which owns both sites, made the matter worst with consent silence despite numerous complains.

Moreover, Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users, showed that users reported problems accessing Facebook and Facebook Messenger shortly after 11pm on Tuesday, which persisted throughout Wednesday and was reported even on Thursday.

Earlier, the Punjab Government had summited a proposal to ban social sides from 6th to the 11th of Muharram for security reasons.

However, the Interior Ministry rejected proposal.

The current access issues have reignited concerns and debates about internet censorship and the role of government in regulating social media platforms.

Users have reported a variety of problems, ranging from being unable to log into their Facebook accounts to complete inaccessibility of the platform.