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The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that it cannot impose a minimum age for social media use under its existing legal powers.
The authority submitted a detailed report to the court on Thursday. It responded to a petition seeking restrictions on social media access for children under 16.
Waqas Nasir filed the petition in August through his lawyers. He asked the IHC to direct the federal government to introduce legislation and a regulatory framework for children’s social media use.
The petitioner said children face growing risks online. These include cyberbullying, harassment and exposure to harmful content.
The IHC sought responses from relevant ministries and authorities on August 31. The PTA was among the bodies asked to respond.
In its report, the PTA said it supports efforts to protect children online. However, it argued that the petition seeks powers beyond its current legal mandate.
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The authority said it can only exercise powers granted by law. It also said it cannot create a new age-verification system through administrative action alone.
The PTA pointed to changes under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act 2025, commonly known as Peca.
The PTA said the amended law creates the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority (SMPRA).
The new body is expected to take over the regulation of social media platforms from the PTA, according to the report.
Until the government officially notifies the SMPRA, the PTA said it continues to perform its functions under the original Peca 2016 framework.
It described its current role in content removal and blocking as transitional.
The PTA also outlined technical difficulties in regulating social media content.
It said platforms such as Facebook, Google and X operate as over-the-top services. The companies are not licensed or registered in Pakistan, according to the report.
The authority said regulators can either approach platforms directly or take technical measures.
However, platforms assess requests under their own community guidelines. These rules may differ from Pakistani laws, the PTA said.
The authority also highlighted HTTPS encryption as a major technical barrier.
It said encryption prevents third parties from identifying specific content accessed through a secure connection.
As a result, blocking an individual URL on an HTTPS platform can be difficult. Blocking the entire website could also restrict access to legitimate content.
The report also discussed the challenges created by artificial intelligence and rapidly changing digital services.
Despite the difficulties, the PTA highlighted its record on URL blocking. It said it had processed more than 17 million URLs and blocked about 88.20% of them.
The authority also cited awareness programmes focused on digital literacy and online child protection.
It said these initiatives included cooperation with Unicef, TikTok, Meta and the GSM Association.
The PTA asked the IHC to dismiss the petition to the extent that it seeks powers beyond the authority’s statutory mandate.
It said any allegation of regulatory failure should relate to specific duties imposed by law.
The authority maintained that its current legal framework does not give it the power to prescribe a minimum age of 16 for social media users.
[…] PTA Authority says it cannot impose social media age limit for under-16s […]