The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) banned social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and video sites such as YouTube at their offices in provinces and the capital.
The notification which was issued on 31st March 2017 by the Deputy Director Syed A. Rahman Zafar. He indicated that the order is being given to protect the system from malware attacks. He further said that this will “ensure the discipline of using electronic resources up to the optimum level.”
The order was issued with immediate effect which means that now onwards no social media sites will be accessible from the national, provincial and field offices.
The letter was sent to all provincial election commissioners of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. They were asked to block these sites with cooperation of PTCL and National Telecommunication Authority (NTC).