With respect to their concerns, the social networking site “continues to work” with the appropriate authorities in Pakistan, according to the first statement it has released since X was suspended in mid-February.
X, previously Twitter, was shut down in Pakistan by the government on February 17, more than a week after the nation’s general elections. Elon Musk, an American tech entrepreneur, purchased the company in April 2022.
Following the polls, discussions on the fairness and openness of the polling process were all over the social networking site.
Users of X later started complaining that they couldn’t access the website. Nonetheless, the Pakistani government remained silent on the subject.
However, the interior ministry insisted in a report given to the Islamabad High Court in a different case pertaining to the suspension that it closed the website due to national security concerns, which prompted the social media platform to release its statement.
Read more: LHC seeks response in X (Twitter) suspension case by April 18
The “content uploaded on the internet” is a “threat” to the nation’s national security, according to the ministry’s report to IHC.
It further stated that Pakistan’s decision to prohibit X was made with the intention of defending public order, national security, and national integrity.
The statement went on to say that X is not a party to the agreement to follow Pakistani laws and is not registered in Pakistan.
According to the Interior Ministry, the government had no choice but to take regulatory action against X, including temporary closure, because the X authorities had not cooperated.
The investigation said that X authorities disregarded and failed to reply to a request from the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime wing to delete accounts that propagated the chief justice.
It further stated that X was being utilised as a tool by some wicked elements to undermine peace and order and foster unrest, and that social media platforms are being exploited indiscriminately for the dissemination of extremist ideologies and false information.
According to the ministry, the goal of the X restriction is to encourage law-abiding, responsible use of social networking sites.
It continued by saying that it is in charge of maintaining national stability and guarding Pakistan’s residents. A ban on the social networking site TikTok was previously imposed by the government, but it was later overturned after TikTok pledged to follow Pakistani legal requirements.
Several nations throughout the world have outlawed social media sites for security-related grounds, the report stated.
The Interior Ministry ordered the shutdown of X on February 17, 2024, at the request of intelligence agencies.
It used the plea submitted in court contesting the suspension to argue that the application opposing X’s closure is unlawful and contrary to the facts, is inadmissible, and ought to be dismissed.
But just a day earlier, the Ministry of Interior was ordered by the Sindh High Court (SHC) to retract the letter it had sent regarding the social networking platform’s suspension within a week.