Pakistan is the latest country to ban the use of VPNs in the country, but it is not the first attempt.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman, retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman, announced on August 2, 2024 that the organization was working on a plan to regulate the use of VPNsThe intention was to only allow providers it considers compliant and block providers that do not meet yet-to-be-announced criteria.
This follows the country’s decision to restrict access to social media sites like X (formerly known as Twitter), which have been banned since February 2024. VPN usage increased following the ban, as internet users tried to find other ways to access the site. Surfshark, one of the best VPNs at the moment, claims that the number of new users increased by over 300% immediately after the ban was implemented.
However, it seems that the Pakistani government has had enough of people evading the ban.
Understanding the ban
According to the PTA, only 30% of internet users in Pakistan connect via a VPN. However, there is currently no way to verify this claim. And because many VPNs offer obfuscated connections, there will never be a definitive figure.
Rehman also claimed that 56% of Pakistan’s population now has access to the internet, which amounts to about 97 million peopleIf “only” 30% of that total is affected by this legislation, that’s still potentially 30+ million people who will have to find another way to access the social media platform.
Potentially, more than 30 million people will have to find another way to access the social media platform
As mentioned above, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this isn’t the PTA’s first attempt at regulating VPN use in the country. In 2020, the PTA introduced new rules that didn’t attempt to ban VPN use, but instead required users to come forward and tell their ISPs (Internet Service Providers) that they were using a VPN.
If they want to continue using the VPN, the user must share their CNIC (Automated National Identity Card) number and also explain exactly what they want to use the VPN for and what IP address they want to use to connect to the VPN – which would completely defeat the purpose of using the VPN in the first place.
The PTA tried to claim that this move was meant to support Pakistan’s IT sector and to “enhance the safety of telecom users”, but it seems not many people agreed with that as they once again tried to get people to record their VPN usage again in 2022 with a new “simplified” process. This second attempt was probably met with the same low number of applicants as the first and now they have simply accepted that their citizens do not really want to tell the government why they want to use a VPN.
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