Mon Dec 02 07:02:01 UTC 2024: ## Pakistanis Report Widespread Social Media Outages Amidst Government Denial

**Islamabad, December 2, 2024** – Pakistani internet users experienced significant disruptions to access popular social media platforms and other online services on Sunday, December 1st. While the government attributed the slowdowns to a routine cyber security measure, independent online monitoring tools confirm widespread outages lasting for hours.

Reports from the Dawn newspaper and user complaints indicate widespread issues with WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, with approximately 52% of users reporting problems sending messages. Cities including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar were affected. The government’s Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecom, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, dismissed concerns, claiming the situation was “blown out of proportion” and that a web management system has been in place for a decade. She emphasized the importance of cybersecurity in the face of daily cyberattacks.

However, this assertion is contradicted by data from independent sources. Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA), a tool from the Georgia Institute of Technology, registered significant internet disruption despite a stable Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) network. IODA, which monitors Google service traffic, detected abnormalities, corroborated by Downdetector, which received numerous user complaints regarding issues with Gmail, YouTube, and WhatsApp.

These independent analyses strongly suggest the government’s claim of uninterrupted service is inaccurate, leaving many questioning the true extent of the internet restrictions in the country. The reported slowdowns come amidst speculation about a government-installed firewall designed to monitor anti-state content on social media.

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