LAHORE – The sudden suspension of internet services amid political escalation caused huge damage to digital service providers, especially Pakistani working on freelance giant Fiverr.
As the snap suspension of mobile broadband services dented online services like Careem, and FoodPanda, Pakistanis working online are facing hard times as Fiverr issued a ‘risk warning’ to clients across the globe before placing orders with freelancers from South Asian nation over the internet outage following the arrest of PTI chief, as the move triggered widespread protests in which several people were killed while it caused billions to national kitty.
Amid the brutal clashes and internet suspension, Fiverr cautioned buyers with a text citing ‘freelancer located in a country experiencing internet outages and your order may be delayed,’ as it caused many to avoid giving jobs to Pakistanis.
Pakistanis are among the top freelancers in the world, who are doing online work and amid the dilemma, flocked to Twitter, sharing their ordeal as the internet suspension is said to cause nearly Rs1 billion loss.
As some lamented government’s action to snap Internet, others tagged Fiverr, telling the second-leading freelancing platform about the availability of Internet. Here’s how people reacted:
Shutting down internet has a huge impact on Freelancers community in Pakistan. Following message is being shown on @fiverr platform if anyone picks a Pakistani freelancer for contract work. Youth is already distressed, stop this madness! #PakistanUnderSiege #PakistanUnderFascism pic.twitter.com/rFhbb9NLdz
— Jibran Ilyas (@agentjay2009) May 11, 2023
Message from @fiverr to one of the users in Pakistan: pic.twitter.com/3fCZGIkAEV
— Jibran Ilyas (@agentjay2009) May 11, 2023
https://twitter.com/zahidch09/status/1656391724011253761
#Pakistan: #Fiverr automatically made gigs unavailable for Pakistani freelancers so that it does not affect their response rate & ratings due to the internet shut down: @wardahn00r
— Islamabad Updates (@IslamabadViews) May 11, 2023
Fiverr is putting IDs in unavailability mode automatically due to current situation in #Pakistan #islamabad pic.twitter.com/emVeJXZvK7
— Nayyer Abbas (@findnayyer) May 11, 2023
@fiverr @FiverrSupport internet is okay in pakistan there is no issue. they just block 2 social media sites.
kindly remove warning feom Pakistani accounts pic.twitter.com/rIc5ECAPsF— Kashif bodla (@kashifbodla4) May 10, 2023
Most IT professionals are working from home today due to blockages of several arteries in parts of the country, however, IT industry, which is already under pressure, now comes to a standstill since the suspension of the internet.
Social media users also called out for shutting down the internet as it added more problems than it solves.
Last year, freelancers of the fifth most populated nation raked in around $2 billion in IT exports, a hard currency source for Pakistan which is battling to meet its foreign exchange need.
Internet, social media go down in Pakistan after Imran Khan s arrest
