PTA unblocks social media websites

ISLAMABAD - The social networking and video-sharing websites are unblocked across the country on Sunday evening, after remaining inaccessible for over 24 hours following the government’s crackdown on the Faizabad protesters a day earlier.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has restored all social media websites, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

A notification to this effect has been issued.

A Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesperson said instructions had been received to unblock the websites.

Hours after police and paramilitary forces launched a crackdown on protesters on Saturday, the PTA was ordered to block TV news channels, popular social media networking sites Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and video-sharing websites YouTube and Dailymotion.