Social media firms’ compliance with PTA requests only 23.7%, NA told
Interior Ministry highlights coordination gaps, shortage of trained analysts; outlines plan to restructure NACTA
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Interior informed the National Assembly during question hour that social media companies’ overall compliance with requests forwarded by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) stood at 23.7 per cent, while compliance in counterterrorism-related cases was 47pc.
According to details presented before the House, the compliance rate was 7.4pc for X, 1.9pc for YouTube and 38.1pc for Facebook.
The ministry described the response from social media companies as low and said the platforms had yet to comply with the PTA’s social media rules.
The figures were presented in connection with requests for the removal of objectionable material and content described by the ministry as anti-state. The available account of the reply did not specify the reporting period or the total number of requests forwarded to each platform.
The House was further informed that Punjab accounted for 97.7pc of requests concerning material categorised as anti-state or anti-government. The figure represented the province’s share of requests in the stated category, rather than the proportion of such content originating in Punjab.
Coordination Gaps in Online Threat Monitoring
The ministry acknowledged that no integrated and structured coordination mechanism existed between the Centre and the provinces to address online threats.
Law enforcement agencies and open-source intelligence cells were also facing a shortage of trained analysts and lacked adequate capacity for round-the-clock monitoring, it said.
The reply highlighted shortcomings in the institutional arrangements for assessing online threats and coordinating responses among the relevant authorities.
NACTA Funding and Proposed Restructuring
Regarding the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), the ministry informed the House that the authority had sought more than Rs2.98 billion for the financial year 2026–27, whereas more than Rs1.33bn had been released for the current year.
The available details did not clarify whether the amount released represented funding provided so far or the full-year allocation.
The ministry said NACTA was a statutory counterterrorism body and did not possess powers to make arrests or directly undertake law enforcement operations.
It further informed the House that NACTA would be restructured into a National Counter Terrorism Division to strengthen its role in countering terrorism and extremism.
