Pakistanis have been suffering from slow internet connectivity for almost a month now, a major blow to the national economy. While the problem is certainly undeniable, it is still unclear who is to blame.
Experts blame the government for Pakistan’s internet decline, accusing authorities of aggressively building a Chinese-style firewall.
However, government representatives strongly denied these allegations. Official statements blamed the growing use of best VPN apps by citizens to circumvent online geographical restrictions. Since February, people in Pakistan have been unable to access X (formerly Twitter) without a VPN.
Nevertheless, censorship appears to be the main cause of the country’s internet decline.
Disconnected Internet
While internet slowdowns have been occurring for several weeks now (NetBlocks, a UK-based internet monitoring group, reported the first “nationwide internet outage” at 24 percent of normal levels on July 31), Pakistan’s internet has been a long-term target for the government.
According to a new report from digital rights group Access Now, authorities withheld information from citizens for 694 days between February 2022 and December 2023. Eight months into 2024, the situation is likely to get even worse on this front.
One thing the IT industry is certain of is that the government is to blame for Pakistan’s internet decline.
The social media platform first went down ahead of elections in January, when an online event was organised by the PTI, the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. Authorities imposed internet-wide restrictions on election day a month later, a cause that continues to this day stem from access to X.
The X ban is particularly significant as it demonstrates the government’s emerging technological capabilities: An investigation conducted by digital rights advocates from the Islamabad-based Bytes for All group found that the block was actually carried out through a less common HTTP blocking method, rather than more common tactics such as DNS filtering, IP blocking, or deep packet inspection (DPI).
The group recently told the BBC it had “sufficient technical evidence” of the existence of a national firewall, “whose purpose appears to be to monitor online traffic and limit its spread.” [of information] “The stifling of online space, particularly political expression,” Shazad Ahmad, director of Byte for All, told the BBC.
P@SHA sounds the alarm! 🚨 The hastily implemented firewall is a major setback for Pakistan’s tech industry. Businesses struggle to survive amid severe internet outages and VPN issues. See P@SHA’s official statement on the National Firewall: https://t.co/aoHrhE6CNm pic.twitter.com/JOwEhzJpYjAugust 16, 2024
In a statement (see tweet above), the Pakistan Software Houses Association condemned the “grave consequences of the hastily implemented national firewall.”
“The burgeoning IT industry is facing catastrophe,” the trade group wrote. “The deployment of firewalls has caused a series of problems, including extended Internet connection times and unstable VPN performance, putting business operations at risk of total collapse.”
The group estimated economic losses at $300 million, and that this could rise. “A mass exodus of tech companies is not just a possibility, but an imminent reality unless immediate and decisive action is taken,” it added.
The Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP) acknowledged that the internet was in a dire state, with speeds dropping by 30-40 percent. It told Dawn that this was due to “the government’s decision to step up security and surveillance.”
Activists have filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court, seeking greater transparency and recognition of access to the internet as a fundamental right.
All the IT industry seems to be sure is that Pakistan’s internet decline is the government’s fault. But government officials don’t agree — or at least, they don’t seem willing to admit it.
At a press conference on August 18, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja denied the existence of a national firewall, stating that the government does not intentionally block or restrict connections, but she condemned the growing use of VPNs among Pakistanis.
Did you know?
Proton VPN, a popular free VPN provider, recorded a staggering 6,000% increase in VPN sign-ups when social media blocks were implemented during widespread protests against the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in May 2023. The company recorded three further spikes earlier this year.
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is security software that encrypts your internet connection and disguise the location of your IP address. It is the latter technique that has led Pakistanis to turn to it in droves to maintain access to blocked social media platforms and other restricted websites.
This is also why VPN circumvention apps are becoming a target for Pakistani authorities: on August 2, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) announced new plans to regulate the use of VPNs.
Notably, VPN use is widespread around the world, with people using them for a variety of purposes, including enhancing digital privacy, unlocking foreign streaming libraries, and circumventing online censorship. This is the first time that VPN use has been reported to affect the speed of an entire country’s internet infrastructure.
Conclusion
Whether Pakistan is building a national firewall like China’s Great Firewall is unclear at the time of writing. can But the crucial thing is that there are many indications that it may be happening.
Take Iran, for example. The Iranian government has publicly declared its plans to build an even higher fence around its “sovereign internet.” At the same time, Iran’s internet has one of the worst connectivity in the world, and experts blame this on the Iranian government’s increased censorship.
Either way, whether it’s the introduction of a national firewall or a surge in VPN use, online censorship is fracturing Pakistan’s internet, with the country’s economy and the rights of its citizens suffering collateral damage.
