Pakistan has a notorious history of blocking websites, particularly social media networks, that allow for the dissemination of information that isn’t being regulated by the authorities. There is a long list of very famous names that were blocked in the past and the government keeps sending “take down” requests regarding “offensive pages and accounts” to Facebook and Twitter, on a regular basis.
It appears that Reddit is under the Government’s radar with the website having become inaccessible, recently
Reddit is an American social media, news aggregation network and a discussion board. It likes to label itself as the “front page” of the internet. It was founded in 2005 by two University of Virginia students and as of 2017, it has 542 million average monthly users, making it one of the most popular websites in the world.
But since the weekend, many people in Pakistan are asking this question
Why is reddit not working in Pakistan?
— Muhammad Umar Jawed (@MUJawed) October 21, 2017
The problem appears to have started on Friday, October 20
Is @reddit jus down in #Pakistan or #blocked? #reddit ? pic.twitter.com/gx2sfdLy9g
— Furqan Tafseer (@furqantafseer) October 20, 2017
And everyone’s generally very confused
#Reddit blocked in #Pakistan !??? :/ pic.twitter.com/NxdTcXXQ7t
— UMΛR ΛLI CHOUDHRY (@u_gr3y) October 21, 2017
It soon became clear that it was a problem on certain internet service providers, only
Apparently, the website is accessible on some networks, including Ufone and PTCL (rather surprisngly, tbh) but many major ISPs have blocked it.
Blocked on Zong (my mobile network) and on Fiberlink (home internet)
— UMΛR ΛLI CHOUDHRY (@u_gr3y) October 22, 2017
And people began speculating soon after
Pakistan seems to have banned @reddit . Probably tried to get them to scrub the front page first.
— Gibran K (@Gibbyk1) October 21, 2017
There was the same question that everyone wanted an answer
Has reddit been blocked in Pakistan? @reddit
— Reza Kazmi (@rezkazmi) October 21, 2017
But no one got any response
Has @reddit been blocked in #Pakistan, or just down?
— Raheej Ahmed Sajid (@xage) October 21, 2017
Many users were pretty surprised
Wow. Looks like reddit is banned in pakistan now.
— Hamza Arshad (@hamzaarshad223) October 21, 2017
Others just took it as yet another attempt by the authorities to censor the internet
any reasons given for Reddit being blocked in Pakistan? Has it been deemed a threat to the moral fabric of our society?
— Omran Shafique (@oshafique) October 21, 2017
@reddit not working for major ISPs in Pakistan
— Abdullah (@AdrakLussun) October 21, 2017
Neither Reddit nor the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority have released any statement regarding the blocking of the website in the country
@reddit Can you please ask Pakistan Telecommunication Authority why have they blocked your site for whole country?
— Adeel (@adeelhh) October 21, 2017
While we await updates on the matter, we’re all here asking the same question
Why is Reddit blocked in Pakistan?
— Tuaha Sohail (@TuahaSohail) October 22, 2017
Is Reddit working for you?
Cover image via: nextpowerup.com