PTA decides not to ban VPNs

LAHORE: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced that it will not impose a ban on virtual private networks (VPNs).

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Sources from the PTA’s local chapter informed APP that the authority had previously warned users to register their VPNs by November 30, with the intention of blocking unregistered connections thereafter.

However, the government decided against the ban following advice from the law ministry, which stated that the government lacked the legal authority to enforce such a ban under the Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.

Earlier, the interior ministry had called for a ban, expressing concerns over the use of VPNs by terrorists and the access to pornographic content. In response, the law ministry clarified that PECA only grants the authority to block specific online content, not entire VPN services.