The emergence of social media has changed the manner in which people express themselves and their opinions. In Pakistan, the virtual public square has become Facebook, X, and Instagram. These aren’t just privatized forums for conversation; they have public and political significance.

Individuals rally here for support and in defence of their causes. What is most significant in Pakistan is that citizens, living both at home and abroad, have embraced this new digital public square. And in this digital arena, the Pakistani youth have taken a leading role.

Pakistan’s internet outrage has been sparked by certain issues. These include government policies, corruption, and social injustices. The internet in Pakistan is, by the way, quite active. Incidents of high-profile nature are often seen in the following of a wave or waves of protests that take place online.

And these incidents can be tied quite closely to the idea of virtual law fair. They include the prosecution and at times persecution of a social media influencer with controversial actions of law enforcement.

Though positive social change can result from protests on the internet, their immediate economic effects can be troubling. Top10VPN.com recorded 18 instances of purposeful internet shutdown, all across three big buckets: elections, “information control”, and protest — as of 2024 with contingent system interruptions lasted 9,735 hours causing 82.9 million users’ impacts.

Based on the these estimate, the widely continuing shutdown of social media platform X since February 18 was the........

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