As of the initial half of 2023, Pakistan has earned the position of 3rd in the world in terms of the number of limitations placed on the internet.

Lithuania-based VPN provider Surfshark conducted a half-year examination of the internet closure based on the Internet Close down Tracker and found that a few of the 42 additional limitations worldwide have been implemented by Pakistan after the arrest of Imran Khan, the former PM of Pakistan, on May 9.

During that time period, users in the country were unable to access Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Additionally, numerous momentary disruptions to cellular network service were observed around the country for several days after the event.

According to the study by Surfshark, Pakistan is ranked third on the list of nations leading the table of regimes that imposed limitations on the internet through the initial half of 2023. Iran and India take the first two spots on the list. With Asia serving as the epicenter of the majority of internet blackouts.

Iran was the country that saw the most internet outages during this time period, with a total of 14 occurrences, all of which took place in Zahedan amid Friday protests against the slaughter that took place in Zahedan.

Held-Kashmir and India

India came in second place, only behind Iran, with a minimum of nine occurrences; the vast majority of them took place during demonstrations.

It is interesting to note that the article makes reference to two different shutdowns of internet service in the region known as “Jammu and Kashmir,” both of which were apparently ordered by the government of India. If these incidents be counted toward India’s total, the country has seen eleven cases of internet outages in the past half year.

The research suggests that the primary motivation for the government to enact internet restrictions was public demonstrations.

Over two-thirds of the latest disruptions, which bring the total number of incidents to 30, were caused by public fury over political and social problems. This poll also sheds light on the fact that during times of civil upheaval, the Internet serves as the key arena for the dissemination of pertinent information.

The Internet Censorship Tracker from Surfshark examines information from mainstream media along with digital rights organizations like Netblocks and Access Now, as well as data collected from social media firms, in order to chronicle instances of censorship on the Internet.

Briefing on Blocked Apps in 2023

During the initial half of the year 2023, Facebook remained to be subject to severe restrictions. The software was not available to users in the countries of Ethiopia, Guinea, Senegal, and Pakistan, as well as Suriname. The governments of each of these nations have in the past been known to enforce various forms of online censorship.

Each YouTube, Instagram, and Telegram is subject to limitations in four different nations, which places them in a tie for the second place on the list of the social sites that are most frequently prohibited. It was a close race between WhatsApp and Twitter for the third slot on the list, and both services are subject to censorship in three countries.

During the first six months of the year, TikTok was blocked in only one country: Ethiopia. According to the research, the United States of America is rapidly moving toward being the 8th country to prohibit the use of this platform.

Global Decline

According to the findings of the study, there was a 31% drop in the number of new occurrences of internet interruption during the initial half of 2023 when compared with the same time period in 2022. However, the number of nations that have instituted similar limitations has increased from 13 to 14.

As a whole, Asia was the region most affected by internet outages, accounting for 71 percent of all new cases worldwide. According to the findings of Surfshark, around 2.35 billion people were subject to internet restrictions throughout the course of the year.

According to the research, the primary reason for the easing of global restrictions is the reduction in the number of instances reported from Kashmir and Jammu, which went from 35 in the initial half of 2022 to only 2 in the exact same period in 2023.