ISLAMABAD – Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar recently claimed that the disruption of WhatsApp services affecting many users in Pakistan was part of a broader global outage.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) described the problem as a “technical glitch.”
However, contradicting the federal minister’s claims, Meta Platforms Inc, the WhatsApp owner, said there was no global outage or slowdown of WhatsApp services.
The global technological issue mentioned by the minister occurred on July 19 due to a faulty software update by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. This issue was resolved within a few hours and primarily affected the company’s customers using Microsoft Windows.
In Pakistan, users began reporting difficulties with sending and receiving media files on WhatsApp from July 17. The disruption continues for many users.
A PTA spokesperson denied any current issues with WhatsApp, labeling the complaints as a “technical glitch” without clarifying if it was local or global.
Digital rights activists suspect the WhatsApp slowdown may be due to the government installing a firewall to control dissent and increase censorship.
Meta Platforms Inc confirmed that the WhatsApp problem was localised to Pakistan’s internet infrastructure.
Media Matters, a Karachi-based company handling Meta’s public relations in Pakistan, responded: “Please note this is due to the country’s internal internet issue. Meta has nothing to do with this.”
