Pakistan: A major internet outage affected several social media platforms, causing widespread disruption and connection issues for users across the country. This incident is perhaps not coincidental, as former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was launching its fundraising campaign for the upcoming elections.
This is not the first time. Last month, similar internet outages were reported during a virtual event hosted by PTI.
The timing of the outage coincided with PTI’s scheduled virtual fundraising telethon and manifesto launch, which was set for 9 pm. Users began experiencing problems with social media platforms around 6 pm in various parts of the country.
Users reported difficulties in accessing social media sites like X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, as well as experiencing slow internet services leading to frustration among internet users.
Global Internet observatory’s Net Blocks also verified the disruption, stating, “Confirmed: Live metrics show a nation-scale disruption to social media platforms across #Pakistan, including X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube; the incident comes as persecuted former PM Imran Khan’s party, PTI, launches its election fundraising telethon.”
