The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced a significant crackdown on websites containing blasphemous and pornographic content.

The PTA has blocked 100,183 URLs deemed blasphemous and 844,008 pornographic websites. This action is part of an ongoing effort to curb the spread of such material online.

The PTA is taking a proactive approach, acting on reports from both citizens and government organizations to identify and block offending websites.

The authority acknowledges the significant challenge posed by the estimated 20 million daily attempts to access pornographic websites blocked at international gateways, with users employing VPNs to circumvent these restrictions.

The PTA said it is committed to implementing all necessary measures to effectively counter this issue.

This action follows a letter from the Ministry of Religious Affairs to the PTA expressing serious concern over the proliferation of blasphemous and pornographic content on social media.

The ministry highlighted the detrimental societal impact of such material, particularly on young people, emphasizing that this content contradicts Pakistan’s social and religious values. The ministry urged the immediate removal of this offensive content from the internet.