WhatsApp becomes the latest social media app blocked in Pakistan

Pakistan restricted yet another social media platform over the weekend.

WhatsApp is the new target of government censorship after X, Facebook, Instagram, and, most recently, Bluesky were blocked across the country.

The internet watchdog NetBlocks reported the outage on Saturday, November 23, 2024 (see tweet below).

“The measure comes as authorities tighten security ahead of protests planned by opposition party PTI calling for the release of former PM Imran Khan,” noted the experts.

Censorship levels in Pakistan have increased significantly in 2024.

Today’s most popular social media platforms first went dark in January, a month away from general elections, as Khan’s party, PTI, launched its online election fundraising telethon.

Authorities enforced a temporary internet shutdown on February 8, election day. X was then restricted on the night of February 17, as a wave of protests contesting election results spread across the country. To this day, Pakistanis still cannot access the ex-Twitter app without one of the best VPNs, together with Meta’s Facebook and Instagram and, since November 21, Bluesky.

Data suggests censorship tactics have become more technically sophisticated, with these advanced techniques likely to also target circumventing tools like VPNs.

Overall, experts believe that this increase in censorship is the main cause of the decline of the country’s internet.

Can a VPN help?

A virtual private network (VPN) is the software that bypasses social media blocks. In addition to encrypting all your internet connections, a VPN spoofs your real IP address location, in fact, granting you access to otherwise geo-blocked content.

This is exactly why VPN usage has soared throughout the year, with Proton VPN recording an increase in sign-ups of over…