Pakistanis make at least 20m attempts daily to access porn: PTA

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has unearthed an estimated 20 million daily attempts to access porn websites via VPNs in Pakistan, and in response blocked 844,000 pornographic websites.

It has also blocked an additional 183 blasphemous URLs, according to government sources.

According to sources, government agencies also report such sites to the PTA in addition to receiving individual complaints regarding obscene content. 

A few days ago, the PTA started blocking unregistered and illegal VPNs across the country, calling them security risks and citing a need to regulate VPN usage.

According to PTA sources, the action is being enforced through a firewall to identify and temporarily block VPNs that have not been officially registered. “VPNs are being temporarily blocked for whitelisting,” PTA sources said, adding that the authority wants to speed up the VPN whitelisting process.