Pakistan social media blackout boosts Khan’s momentum

A state-imposed social media blackout to quell massive protests around the arrest of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan instead fuelled momentum for him, analysts say.

Moments after Khan was detained by a swarm of paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday, the interior ministry restricted nationwide access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Mobile data coverage — used by political activists to organise protests on messenger apps such as WhatsApp, but with far larger effects on the wider populace — was also cut.

But Khan’s supporters quickly found workarounds, leaving social media awash with calls for protest and shaky handheld clips of thousands of demonstrators clashing with police.

The clampdown — which lasted until late Friday — was a “crass miscalculation” by authorities, according to Shahzad Ahmad, director of digital rights organisation Bytes for All. “It’s only going to work against them.”