PTA tells Islamabad High Court it has no power to bar under 16s from social media
The telecom regulator says an age limit or mandatory age checks would need a new law, and that its own content blocking powers are meant to be temporary.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has told the Islamabad High Court that it cannot ban children under 16 from social media or force platforms to verify their users' ages, because no law gives it that power. Its response, filed in Writ Petition No. 4163 of 2026, says the PTA "does not have the legal authority under its existing jurisdiction". Dawn reported the filing on 1 October.
The petition was brought in August by Waqas Nasir, who asks the federal government to legislate and set up a framework limiting social media use by children under 16. On 31 August the court asked the relevant ministries and authorities, the PTA among them, to respond.
The regulator described itself as a statutory body that can use only the powers the law gives it. It pointed to Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, which lets it block or remove unlawful content on listed grounds but does not let it set a minimum age for users or build a universal age verification system. It said it cannot create such a regime by administrative order.
What an age limit would require
The PTA said a system of age checks would need its own legal framework covering how ages are verified, who is responsible for checking, how identity data is handled, privacy safeguards, platform compliance, audits and penalties. Age limits in Australia and the European Union rest on laws passed there, it added, and do not hand it similar powers in Pakistan. A minimum age of 16, a universal age database or mandatory verification by platforms would, in its view, need explicit legislation.
It also set out practical limits. Platforms such as Facebook, Google and X run as over the top services that the PTA does not license and that are not registered in Pakistan, so they are not bound by local codes of conduct. Most use HTTPS encryption, which makes blocking a single URL nearly impossible without blocking the whole website. Takedown requests are often judged against each company's own community guidelines, which may not match Pakistani law. The PTA said it processed more than 17 million URLs and blocked about 88.2 percent of them.
A mandate meant to be temporary
The filing also says the PTA's role in this area is temporary. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act, 2025 created the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority, known as SMPRA, which is meant to take over regulation of social media platforms. Until SMPRA is formally in place, the PTA said it works under the 2016 law on a best efforts basis and that its content removal and blocking mandate is transitory in nature.
The authority can still handle complaints, review reported content, coordinate with platforms and block content where current law allows. It cited awareness work with UNICEF, TikTok, Meta and the GSM Association, and asked the court to dismiss the petition to the extent it seeks relief beyond its mandate. On 5 October it followed the filing with advice to parents, urging them to cap screen time, keep devices in shared family spaces and use parental controls.
