Pakistan blocked Telegram

As of 16th December 2023, OONI data suggests that access to Telegram has been blocked in Pakistan, and that the block remains ongoing.

The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of Telegram on 54 networks in Pakistan between 1st October 2023 to 28th February 2024.

As is evident, we observe a spike in anomalies on 16th December 2023 which persist thereafter, suggesting that access to Telegram was blocked in Pakistan on that day. This is further suggested by the fact that the vast majority of measurements show that Telegram was previously accessible on tested networks in Pakistan. Meanwhile, almost all OONI measurements collected from the testing of Telegram between 16th December 2023 to 28th March 2025 presented anomalies, suggesting that access to Telegram has been blocked throughout this period on most tested networks in Pakistan.

OONI data suggests that access to Telegram is blocked by means of TLS interference, which is consistent with how other blocks in Pakistan have been implemented. We observe some variance across networks, as some ISPs only appear to block Telegram Web (telegram.org), while other ISPs appear to block both Telegram Web and the Telegram mobile app (as attempted connections to Telegram endpoints fail).

Overall, this is not the first time that we observe the blocking of Telegram in Pakistan. We previously reported the blocking of Telegram and other instant messaging apps amid Pakistan’s November 2017 protests. The block was thereafter lifted, and implemented again in December 2023. Recent OONI data suggests that the blocking of Telegram in Pakistan remains ongoing.

If you are in Pakistan, you can help test Telegram and contribute more measurements by running OONI Probe.