How Pakistan Govt Plans to Implement China-like Firewall to Block Social Media

Pakistan now joins countries like China, Iran, Turkey, and Russia in employing a national firewall to regulate internet content. The Pakistani media has reported that the country will be implementing a firewall to control social media access to X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube.

The Pakistan government has agreed to the internet service providers to install a firewall which will have a special feature ‘Deep Packet Inspection’ capability.

The move follows the temporary blocking of X in Pakistan earlier this year. The government said the goal is to stop the spread of “undesirable content”, which includes propaganda and content deemed offensive by the government.

The Pakistan government justified the blocking of X website citing non-compliance with laws and its alleged failure to register within the country.

How will Firewall Work in Pakistan?

Firewall is a security tool that stops online traffic from reaching to a particular website. They can prevent malicious actors from targeting individual users’ computer systems or home networks, and even thwart cyber threats on specific websites.

You can also look at the settings of your personal computer that has the options to set up firewalls with different restriction levels. A firewall can be a physical device, or a software-based tool. It depends on a specific user’s needs.

• The firewall will reportedly use Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology to examine the data packets and identify the source of propaganda material.

• Keyword filtering will be used to identify and block content deemed undesirable by the government, potentially including blasphemy, hate speech, or content critical of the state.

• The government will also regulate Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which some users have employed to bypass restrictions on X.

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The temporary blocking of X in Pakistan has reduced its user base from 4.5 million to 2.4 million.

Whenever an Internet shutdown or block is implemented, the country’s citizens suffer a huge setback, education is disrupted, and healthcare institutions struggle to provide quality care.

According to estimates from the digital privacy research group Top10VPN, Pakistan has shut down the internet for 1,752 hours so far in 2024.

Disadvantages of Firewall

Firewalls can be restrictive and can limit users from performing legitimate operations. These restrictions can impede productivity and even prompt users to begin utilising backdoor exploits to work around them.

Firewalls can also bring up antitrust concerns. Well-performing companies and businesses that would normally gain more users may be blocked and replaced by government-approved alternatives with lower privacy and service standards, degrading the Internet user’s experience even further.

Software firewalls tend to be less expensive and easier to deploy, but require terminal resources. Hardware firewalls require purchase and installation for each network node, which in large-scale corporate networks can be costly depending on the firewalls purchased.

Has Pakistan Blocked Internet Before?

In 2012, the Pakistan’s government blocked around 20,000 websites, including YouTube, per a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) official. In 2017, Jack Dorsey-led Twitter posted on its Global Government Affairs account that it was aware of reports that the “Pakistani government has taken action to block Twitter service, as well as other social media services.”

During the recent general elections in Pakistan, its government blocked access to X for days earlier this year. Internet service was largely affected during this period.

“Pakistani authorities have already imposed multiple shutdowns that disrupted opposition activities during this election cycle. At least 11 Internet shutdowns were imposed during the last election year of 2018, and the authoritarian use of shutdowns has only emboldened through 2022, 2023, and now 2024,” said digital rights advocacy group Access Now, in a statement in February, as quoted by The Hindu.