Social media platforms’ speed slows down as Pakistan experiments firewall

ISLAMABAD – The speed of social media platforms in Pakistan went slow after authorities experimented the firewall, which aims at controlling spread of fake news and propaganda material, local media reported on Thursday.

The firewall facilitates the monitoring of popular social media sites such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, as well as search engines like YouTube. Users in Pakistan continue to experience limited access to X with many using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to properly navigate the microblogging platform.

The speed of the social media platforms will resume to normal once the experiment of firewall is completed, reported quoted anonymous officials as having said.

The federal government has allocated over Rs30 billion to the Ministry of Information Technology to install the mega social medial filtering system.

The control of the firewall will be handed over to the authorities concerned after the trial run, that has affected the speed of internet and social media in the country.

Earlier this month, The PTA released an advertisement inviting tenders for the supply, installation, and configuration of “next-generation firewalls, with a five-year hardware warranty.  The last date for submitting the tender is July 26.

The reports, however, quoted PTA spokesperson by saying that this is a separate firewall, which will be used for internal infrastructure.