ISLAMABAD, AUGUST 2: The president of the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) said a parliamentary committee on Thursday that the organization is developing a strategy to control the use of VPNs in Pakistan by blacklisting certain proxy networks and whitelisting others.
PTA Chairman retired Maj General Hafeez ur Rehman stated that only whitelisted VPNs would operate in Pakistan when the policy is put into effect, with the others being stopped, while addressing a meeting of the Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat.
Local internet users saw a sharp rise in the usage of VPNs in 2024. The majority have been using them to go into X, which was once Twitter but has been prohibited in the nation since February 19.
Another VPN service provider, Surfshark, reported that in the immediate wake of X’s suspension, their new user acquisition rates in Pakistan increased by 300–400%.
The effectiveness of the platform’s prohibition has also been questioned in light of the large number of users accessing X through VPNs; nonetheless, the PTA chief informed the Senate committee that the number of X users in Pakistan had dropped by 70%. Just 30% of users, according to Mr. Rehman, are using a VPN to access X.
In Pakistan, there are comparatively less users of X than on other social networking sites. In early 2024, there were 4.5 million X users in Pakistan, according to DataReportal.
It suggests that any attempt to control VPN use in Pakistan will affect the IT industry more broadly because of the variety of functions for which it is employed.
The PTA president reiterated this when questioned about a general prohibition on VPN use.
Senator Rana Mahmoodul Hasan, the PTA head, responded to a question from the committee’s chairman by saying that while VPNs may be disabled nationwide, doing so will “lead to the collapse of countless IT enterprises that
The government has made many attempts to register VPNs in order to control their usage, but none of those initiatives have been followed through on.
Most recently, in 2022, the PTA requested that foreign embassies, freelancers, and organizations in the public and commercial sectors register their VPNs if they planned to use them uninterrupted.
In 2010, the PTA also established VPN regulations, although they were never put into effect.
Taxes on social media
Committee member Azam Nazir Tarar, the minister of law, stated that several social media companies that are alleged to have broken Pakistan’s security regulations have agreed to set up shop in the nation.
According to him, they have even offered to open virtual offices in Pakistan.
The minister brought up the fact that 132 million Pakistanis use social media for business, despite the fact that these sites are not subject to taxes.
He went on to say that taxes are levied globally on social media earnings and proposed that Pakistan should follow suit.
Senator Hassan expressed worries over cellular marketing taxes as well. The committee members were directed by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek to research national and international laws and suggest policies that would guarantee the public’s access to digital services.
