The Islamabad High Court has directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pemra and the cybercrime agency NCCIA to explain how they enforce Pakistan’s rules on online harassment and harmful content. Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir passed the interim order.
For anyone who has dealt with blackmail, harassment or leaked private photos online, the order puts the agencies’ track record under court scrutiny. It also asks why platforms so often refuse to act on removal requests.
A joint meeting and a report on the gaps
Each body must file a report on how it applies the laws covering harassment, blackmail and the unauthorised sharing of private material, and how it protects children and other vulnerable users. PhoneWorld reports that the court also wants the ministries and regulators to meet and identify legal, administrative and technical obstacles.
TechJuice says the Interior Secretary must convene that meeting, with the Ministry of IT, Pemra, PTA, NCCIA and other relevant bodies attending. A joint report should then set out gaps, agreed measures, who is responsible for each and a timeline. The court reportedly added that the directions do not require any authority to go beyond its legal powers.
The PTA has been asked to explain why its coercive powers were not used and why registration requirements for social media companies were not effectively enforced.
How often platforms obey PTA takedown requests
Both outlets report that the PTA put compliance figures on record, showing how often platforms acted on its removal requests:
| Platform | Compliance rate |
|---|---|
| X | 48.42% |
| 78.57% | |
| 79.52% | |
| YouTube | 87.34% |
| TikTok | 88.68% |
By content type, requests on decency and morality were acted on most often, at 98.91%. The two reports give slightly different figures for some other categories, so we have left those out.
The PTA told the court it asked platforms to register and appoint local compliance and grievance officers, but has received no positive response. It also said its powers are limited to requesting removal or technical measures, and that companies often decline, citing their own community guidelines.
Back in court on 23 November
The case returns to court on 23 November 2026, according to the TechJuice report. We have not seen the order itself, and we will update this post if its text or the agencies’ reports become public.
