ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said on Thursday around 20 million Pakistanis were daily attempting to access pornographic websites, which authorities have banned since 2011.

In November 2011, the PTA announced it was in the process of banning the 1,000 most-frequented porn websites in Pakistan. In 2016, the government ordered Internet Service Providers to block more than 400,000 websites which contained pornographic content, while in 2019, around 800,000 additional porn sites were banned by the PTA. 

“There are approximately 20 million daily attempts from within the country to access pornographic websites which are blocked at the international gateway,” the PTA statement said. 

“However, users bypass restrictions via VPNs and access porn contents. PTA remains fully committed to curbing this issue, taking all necessary measures to block this content effectively.

“So far PTA has blocked a total of 100,183 blasphemous URLs and 844,008 pornographic websites.”

The latest figures from the PTA come as it introduced a new portal for the registration of VPNs on Tuesday, a move that is being widely seen as an attempt by the government to block vital tools that allow users to bypass government restrictions amid a wave of digital crackdowns. 

Pakistan has already blocked access to social media platform X since the February general elections, with the government saying the blocking was to stop anti-state activities and due to a failure by X to adhere to local Pakistani laws. Rights activists say the blocking is designed to stifle critical voices and democratic accountability in the country, which the government denies. 

VPN users in Pakistan reported significant disruptions to services last weekend (Nov. 9-10), with issues relating to connectivity and restricted access. Downdetector reported disruption to TunnelBear VPN and VPN Unlimited but none of the best VPNs appeared to be affected.

The Proton VPN Observatory, run by the developers of one of the most secure VPNs, Proton, reported a spike in VPN usage in Pakistan on Nov. 9 and recorded a 350 percent increase in VPN sign-ups in Pakistan over Nov. 9-10. 

There are also reports Pakistan is imposing a national firewall, which the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) has said could cost the economy up to $300 million. In August, the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) warned that frequent Internet disruptions and low speeds caused by poor implementation of the firewall had led many multinational companies to consider relocating their offices out of Pakistan, with some having “already done so.”

Digital rights activists say Islamabad is implementing the Internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms, but the government denies the firewall is meant for censorship purposes.