Fact-check: Posts falsely claim Pakistan has banned Spotify

Viral online posts suggest that after blocking access to X, formerly known as Twitter, Pakistani authorities have now banned Spotify, a popular digital music and podcast service.

The claim is false. While X remains blocked in Pakistan for over a month, no restrictions have been imposed on Spotify, to date.

Claim

On March 25, Pakistani social media users began asking if Spotify has been banned in Pakistan by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), which had earlier closed down X (Twitter) in the country.

Other online users were seen asking the same question here, here and here.

Fact

Access to Spotify has not been restricted in Pakistan, as of now, say independent internet monitoring organisations.

Bytes for All (B4A), an Islamabad-based research think tank focused on information and communication technology, told Geo Fact Check via messages on March 26 that Spotify was “working fine” on all systems.

The same was confirmed by Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD), an Islamabad-based organisation which works for media literacy and digital development, adding that Spotify was working without a VPN.

“Spotify has not been blocked,” said Huzaifa Baloch, a content analyst at MMfD, “probably users were facing some glitch” on March 25.

Geo Fact Check’s team also faced no trouble in accessing Spotify without a VPN.

With additional reporting by Saman Amjad.

Follow us on @GeoFactCheck. If our readers detect any errors, we encourage them to contact us at [email protected]