A major development has emerged regarding the firewall installed in Pakistan to control social media. According to official sources, the government has permanently shut down the firewall ahead of the 5G spectrum auction.
Sources state that the firewall was installed in 2024 to monitor and regulate social media. However, due to technical issues, it failed to fully integrate with the telecom infrastructure. As a result, the project was declared unsuccessful after it did not achieve the desired outcomes.
Officials said the failure of the project caused losses worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer. The firewall also slowed down internet speeds, affecting millions of freelancers and thousands of IT companies’ digital services.
Experts from the IT and telecom sector had recommended shutting down the firewall to promote investment and support the digital economy. The Ministry of IT declined to issue an official statement regarding the shutdown.
