PTA tells IHC: No law exists to ban social media use by children under 16
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that no law currently exists to ban social media use by children under 16, and that it cannot establish an age-verification system for children beyond the law and its granted powers. The PTA submitted its detailed reply before the IHC in a petition seeking a ban on social media use by children under…
Islamabad: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told the Islamabad High Court that there is no existing law to ban social media use by children under 16. The PTA said it can't create an age-verification system due to its limited legal powers. The agency submitted this in a petition asking for a ban on children under 16 using social media.
It argued a new legal and policy framework is needed to protect children from online threats. The PTA said it can only block illegal online material temporarily. It said a Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority will soon start handling complaints about illegal content. The PTA said its main job now is to deal with cybercrime and immoral content, which the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency now handles.
So far, the PTA has checked over 1.789 million illegal online links and shut down over 1.577 million. The PTA's blocking rate is at 88.20 percent. It blocked 88.68 percent of TikTok links, 87.34 percent of YouTube links, and 78.57 percent of Facebook links. On Instagram, 79.52 percent of links were blocked, and 48.42 percent were blocked on X (Twitter).
Over 1.066 million websites and links related to immoral content were blocked, as were over 203,000 links about anti-Islam material and more than 46,000 links against national security. The PTA said social media companies aren't registered in Pakistan and aren't bound by local laws. Technical limits make it hard to block individual content because of HTTPS encryption, so whole websites must be shut down.
The PTA says social media companies haven't responded to its requests for local compliance and a local grievance officer. The agency says awareness campaigns for child protection are going on with UNICEF, TikTok, Meta, and GSMA. A toll-free helpline, 1121, and a safety feature for Instagram users have been started to help with reporting online abuse and exploitation of children.
The PTA asked the court to dismiss the petition beyond its legal limits. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Ministry of Interior, and the National Commission on the Rights of the Child also gave their replies to the court.
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