Pakistan telecom regulator tells Islamabad High Court it lacks legal power to ban under-16s from social media

Regulator says it cannot unilaterally impose age checks as court hears petition on minors and social media

Islamabad: Pakistan’s telecom regulator has told the Islamabad High Court that it does not currently have the legal authority to prohibit children under the age of 16 from using social media or to force platforms to implement universal age verification. The position, filed in Writ Petition No. 4163 of 2026, was submitted as part of court proceedings seeking protections for minors online.

In its report to the court the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, or PTA, set out the limits of its powers under existing law. The regulator said Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, permits blocking or removal of unlawful online content on specified grounds, but it does not give the PTA the power to impose a general user age limit or create a nationwide age verification regime on its own.

Technical and legal barriers, regulator told the court

The PTA told the court that making age verification mandatory would require a bespoke statutory and regulatory framework. Such a framework would need to define acceptable verification methods, allocate responsibility for checks, specify how identity information would be handled and stored, and set out privacy safeguards, compliance audits and penalties for breaches. The regulator warned these matters cannot be implemented by administrative order alone.

PTA also highlighted practical constraints. It said major platforms use encryption and global content delivery mechanisms, which complicate selective removal of specific posts or pages from within Pakistan. According to the regulator, whole site blocking remains a blunt, best effort fallback when platforms do not cooperate, and that approach risks cutting off lawful speech for millions of users.

Platforms, courts and new institutions

The submission described a five year history in which PTA says it urged social media companies to register and appoint local compliance and grievance officers under Pakistani rules, but did not receive affirmative cooperation. The filing noted that enforcement of cybercrime and child exploitation cases falls to specialised law enforcement bodies, and that an institutional change is under way.

The PTA pointed to recent legislative reforms that create a dedicated social media regulator. It said the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Amendment Act, 2025, contemplates the establishment of a Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority, which would supersede some PTA responsibilities for social platform oversight. Until such institutions and laws are fully operational, the PTA argued, it cannot assume sweeping new powers.

What this means for the debate on minors and social media use

Advocates who petitioned the court are asking for tighter protections for children online, including a minimum age to use popular platforms and mandatory verification to prevent underage accounts. The PTA’s submission shifts the debate from immediate regulatory action to a legislative question. Lawmakers and child protection officials will now face pressure to design a legal regime that balances child safety, privacy, and technical feasibility.

Experts say this is a familiar tension: age verification can reduce some risks to minors, but it raises serious privacy concerns and logistical hurdles. Verification systems that rely on identity documents can exclude marginalised groups, create databases of sensitive personal information, and become targets for misuse or breach. Conversely, leaving platforms to self‑regulate has frequently proved insufficient to stop exploitation of minors online.

Next steps and wider significance

The Islamabad High Court will continue to consider the petition, and the PTA’s report is likely to prompt the court to seek responses from other institutions named in the filing, including the ministries responsible for interior and communications, and any newly created regulatory body. Civil society groups and child welfare agencies will be watching closely, because the court’s direction could determine whether Pakistan pursues fast regulatory fixes or a more measured legislative route.

The case also illuminates the limits of national regulators when dealing with global social networks. Without platform cooperation or clear statutory powers, regulators often must rely on narrow blocking powers that can inadvertently limit lawful expression. Pakistan’s decision on how to proceed will be followed by other countries wrestling with the same policy tradeoffs between child safety, privacy and control over digital platforms.

For now, the PTA’s statement to the court places the immediate burden on the legislature and newly proposed institutions to craft the rules and safeguards that would be necessary before a mandatory age limit or age verification system could lawfully be imposed in Pakistan.