Pakistan blocks content its telecoms regulator deems blasphemous, immoral or against the state, has cut off whole platforms, from Wikipedia in 2023 to X in 2024 and 2025, and filters traffic through a national firewall.
Every day we open 67 of the world’s biggest sites and apps from home internet connections in Pakistan, and record what’s blocked, since when and how.
5 of 67 testedsites and apps with a confirmed block in Pakistan
67 of 67 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Tests are requested on PTCL and Nayatel home connections.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocks and removes content under Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA), on grounds such as the glory of Islam, security and defence, public order, decency and morality. It publishes no blocklist, but reported in January 2024 that it had blocked 1.4 million URLs. Amendments in January 2025 added a social media authority that can order content blocked and made spreading “fake or false” information punishable by up to three years in prison.
Internet providers must block URLs and IP addresses on the PTA’s orders, and OONI found X and Telegram blocked by interference with encrypted (TLS) connections. Amnesty International reported in September 2025 that the national firewall, the Web Monitoring System, has run on technology from China’s Geedge Networks since 2023 and lets the authorities block VPNs or any website they deem unlawful. An internet provider official blamed its testing for slow internet in mid-2024; officials pointed to submarine cable faults instead.
Religious and political flashpoints have led to some of the biggest blocks. Wikipedia was blocked in February 2023 over “sacrilegious” content until the prime minister ordered it restored, and X was blocked from February 2024, after an election marred by rigging claims, on what the interior ministry called national security grounds. Telegram has been blocked on most networks since December 2023, dating apps such as Tinder and Grindr since 2020, and Access Now counted 20 internet shutdowns in 2025.
X became reachable again on 7 May 2025, during the four-day conflict with India. After dropping a 2024 threat to block unregistered VPNs, the PTA granted VPN service licences to five local companies in November 2025. And on 3 August 2026 Al Jazeera’s English website stopped loading on many Pakistani connections, a day after the information ministry called its coverage of elections in Pakistan-administered Kashmir “yellow journalism”; no block was announced.
Are VPNs legal in Pakistan?
Pakistan hasn’t banned VPNs: in late 2024 the PTA dropped a threat to block unregistered ones after the Law Ministry said it had no legal grounds, and since November 2025 it has licensed local VPN providers whose users needn’t register.
Key dates
Al Jazeera’s English site stops loading on many connections, a day after the information ministry calls its Kashmir election coverage “yellow journalism”.
The PTA grants VPN service licences to five local companies under a restored licensing regime; their users don’t have to register their VPNs.
X becomes reachable again after almost 15 months, during the four-day military conflict with India.
Amendments to the cybercrime law create a social media regulator and make spreading “fake or false” information a crime.
X is blocked nationwide after the general election; the interior ministry later tells a court it acted on national security grounds.
Wikipedia is blocked over content the PTA calls sacrilegious, until the prime minister orders it restored on 6 February.
Get past a block
Blocked in Pakistan?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so the blocks in Pakistan no longer apply. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
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Test machines on PTCL and Nayatel home connections open each site’s homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Not since May 2025. X was blocked from 17 February 2024, after the general election, and the interior ministry told a court the block protected national security and public order. It became reachable again on 7 May 2025, during the four-day conflict with India, when users found they could open it without a VPN.
Do You Need to Register a VPN in Pakistan?
Not if you use one of the local providers the PTA has licensed since November 2025: their users don’t need to register IP addresses or phone numbers. Registration was aimed at businesses, foreign missions and freelancers, and in late 2024 the PTA dropped a plan to block unregistered VPNs.
Why Was Wikipedia Blocked in Pakistan?
The PTA blocked it on 3 February 2023 because Wikipedia hadn’t removed content the regulator called sacrilegious. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered it restored three days later, saying that blocking the whole site wasn’t a suitable way to restrict access to some objectionable content.
