Social media platforms largely ignore Pakistan’s removal requests

Pakistan’s efforts to remove extremist content from social media platforms have faced limited cooperation, with major companies complying with less than half of the requests submitted by government authorities.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi shared the figures in a written response to the National Assembly, acknowledging gaps in efforts to curb extremist material online.

According to the reply, social media companies complied with 23.7 per cent of requests submitted by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The compliance rate for requests made by Counter-Terrorism Departments (CTDs) stood at 47.1 per cent.

Platform-specific figures showed particularly low compliance by X and YouTube. X acted on 7.4 per cent of the requests it received, while YouTube’s compliance rate was just 1.9 per cent. Facebook complied with 38 per cent of requests, according to the data presented in the assembly.

The information was provided in response to questions about counterterrorism measures and government efforts to restrict extremist content on social media.

In the same reply, Naqvi outlined the results of intelligence-based operations conducted across the country during the first nine months of 2026.

He said security agencies carried out 5,143 intelligence-based operations between January 1 and September 29. These operations resulted in the deaths of 2,410 terrorists, injuries to 806 others and the arrest of 3,518 suspects.

The interior minister said counterterrorism activities were being conducted under the National Action Plan, which guides Pakistan’s efforts to tackle militancy and improve internal security.