Twitter hogaya down in Pakistan aur conspiracies shuru
We can’t survive without social media, can we? We have been pretty used to Facebook and Instagram’s occasional crashes. But when Twitter stops working, we know that the shit is real. Of course being in the middle of a pandemic just causes more meltdown with internet privileges being taken away, so something similar just happened with Pakistanis.
Twitter suddenly went down in Pakistan, late on Sunday night
#TwitterDown became the top trend in Pakistan as everyone realized that pictures are taking forever to load. The issue was being reported on multiple different Internet Service Providers and carried on for quite a few hours.
Of course, with Twitter being down in Pakistan creativity within the awaam had to be unleashed
The app could be down, but the meme game was way too strong.
All of us staring at our screens wondering if it’s just that we have shitty internet or that Twitter died#TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/Bn8QVqDNRJ
— SAAD (@Imranist_01) May 17, 2020
When everyone realises that Twitter is down#TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/WIYpZDBG3g
— SAAD (@Imranist_01) May 17, 2020
#TwitterDown
meanwhile me * pic.twitter.com/UCLsE3lXbC— Amna . (@or_sunao0) May 17, 2020
when there is no app you can to check if twitter is down#TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/Zk2fombGIX
— triggered larka (@ptcl_nhi_lgana) May 17, 2020
Some people realized that Twitter was down ONLY in Pakistan and that became the catalyst for a lot of conspiracy theories
As a nation that thrives on conspiracies, we always have alternative explanations – or “alternative facts” – for any and every amjor event so suffice to say, quite a few people began speculating that the reason Twitter was down was because something sinister was brewing on the political landscape.
Twitter pe social distancing to ab hui hai. Half of people can’t access in Pakistan, Thankyou Imran Khan.
— Super Maan (@ZameerMaan) May 17, 2020
I shit you not. When my Twitter stopped working, I turned my PTCL connection on and off for about an hour.
Then I found that internet is still working so Twitter must be down round the globe and waited for the issue to be sorted out.
Now turns out it was our gov 🤦#TwitterDown— Qaiser For President 🌹 (@Qaiser__Khan) May 17, 2020
bruh fuck this i was resetting my router for over an hour only to know the govt was fucking with us #TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/sCv8pp4o05
— 𝒔 ⁷ (@caughtinajimin) May 17, 2020
Many questioned if the Government banned the site for some top-secret reason we don’t know
The conspiracy theorist in me is super hungry for all the deets.
PTA attacks Twitter w/ mass-scale blockers & multimedia shutdown i.e. currently being observed & identified by millions across Pakistan. PTI Gov continues to suppress & monitor press & social media in response to backlash & exposed Governments inaction & incompetence #TwitterDown
— Taimur A Calson® (@TACalson) May 17, 2020
Pakistan has blocked Twitter. Not sure if it is related to the embarrassment caused by some Ghazwa-e-Hind warriors or a certain virtual conference of Pakistani left wingers. Either way, Twitter is offline in Pakistan. Speechless. 🤦♂️
— FJ (@Natsecjeff) May 17, 2020
Pakistanis had been coming up with weird conspiracies on the Twitter issue
Is it due to some conference? Is it some takeover? Is the PTI Government being toppled? Guess, we will never know because Twitter is now back up without much hassle.
So the army just shut down Twitter and Zoom all over #Pakistan to avoid Pakistanis from witnessing the #SAATHVirtualConf2020 which revolved around, ironically, Freedom of Press in Pakistan! They will go to any lengths to deprive us of uncensored media.
— ارباب (@reedumaurier) May 17, 2020
Martial law ?? I hear Boots
— Super Maan (@ZameerMaan) May 17, 2020
People quickly came up with hacks to unblock Twitter
To access twitter I have to use VPN. Elsewhere in the world it’s working perfectly fine.
I am starting to think state of Pakistan has something to do with this artificial problem.— Super Maan (@ZameerMaan) May 17, 2020
Government nibbas blocking Twitter
Turns on VPN
Govt nibbas:
#TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/OCD4VeBpKW— Moiz (@criesforfries) May 17, 2020
This one person even claimed that this shutdown could be a teaser of something permanent
OH…NO!
Twitter might get permanently down.
Start searching for proxies already #TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/lGJ84V9MRt— r/sad (@numbhorn) May 17, 2020
I stan this one only
I think twitter had enough of our ranting.
— Cheesecake (@medliferants) May 17, 2020
Turns out there was something going on with Twitter being down in Pakistan because Zoom was down too
Update: Access to Twitter and its video streaming service have been restored in #Pakistan following a multi-hour block.
The network data collected with @DigitalRightsPK also indicates that videoconferencing service Zoom was restricted during the same period 📈 pic.twitter.com/7tHXzRi5DO
— NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) May 17, 2020
So, did you experience any difficulty with Twitter? Or do you have any juicy conspiracy theory? Spill it out below.
Cover image via abcnews.com