Authorities block millions of domains as action against unlawful online content expands

Islamabad: Authorities have blocked more than 1.5 million illegal URLs and 6.5 million domains carrying obscene material, the National Assembly was informed on Thursday, according to a report submitted by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).

The report outlined the scale of online violations, including blasphemous and explicit content circulating on platforms such as TikTok, and said cyber-related offences increased over the past year.

According to the figures presented, 545 cases of cyber harassment and 322 cases of hate speech were registered. The report also recorded 187 cases related to fake information and 58 cases involving child sexual abuse.

The data shared with the National Assembly also broke down the number of victims by gender in several categories. In cyber harassment cases, 360 women and 110 men were identified as victims. In hate speech cases, 42 women and 273 men were affected. In cases involving the spread of false information, 21 women and 180 men were impacted.

Action against blasphemous and obscene material

The NCCIA told lawmakers it was taking steps to curb blasphemous and obscene content online. More than 600 URLs carrying such material had been blocked.

435 complaints were registered in connection with this category of content. These complaints led to 98 inquiries and 42 cases, while 73 people were arrested.

The report further stated that courts have so far convicted three individuals in such cases.

PTA monitoring system expanded

The PTA said its Web Monitoring System (WMS) had been used to block millions of domains and had now been activated to allow the complete blocking of HTTPS websites.

This step has strengthened enforcement capacity against unlawful online content.

The information was presented to the National Assembly as part of a broader account of measures being taken by the PTA and NCCIA against online offences, including blasphemous, obscene, hateful and misleading material.

The report also highlighted the breadth of the issue by listing multiple categories of cyber offences recorded over the past year, ranging from harassment and hate speech to fake information and child sexual abuse.

The figures presented to lawmakers showed both the scale of enforcement activity and the number of complaints, inquiries, arrests and convictions linked to unlawful online content.