At least two online tools have contradicted the government’s claims of uninterrupted internet services on Sunday, reporting widespread disruptions for users accessing social media platforms.
An analysis by Dawn using data from two tools that monitor network stability and internet outages in real-time reveals that users experienced difficulties or had limited access to several social media services throughout the day.
The Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA), developed by the Internet Intelligence Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, indicated that disruptions lasted for hours, particularly affecting access to Google services. The tool measures internet connectivity and identifies outages in near real-time.
According to IODA, although the network remained stable at the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) level — which ensures stability across major internet providers — disruptions were still evident, particularly regarding traffic to Google services. The stability of BGP routes is typically a sign of no widespread network issues, which are usually caused by factors like submarine cable faults or data center fires.
However, IODA’s data revealed significant internet disruptions, especially in traffic to Google services like Gmail, YouTube, and search engine access. The tool identified disruptions between 10:00 PM on Saturday and 8:30 AM on Sunday, and again from 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM.
According to experts, this drop in traffic is an indicator of restricted internet access. If there is usually a certain amount of traffic to services like Google, but it drops drastically, it suggests internet restrictions are in place.
The disruptions reported by IODA were further corroborated by Downdetector, another tool that tracks outages of social media websites. Downdetector noted persistent complaints from users about issues accessing Gmail, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Throughout the day, about 52% of users reported problems sending messages, 27% faced issues with voice notes, and 21% had problems with the overall WhatsApp application.
Additionally, users across Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and other regions reported difficulties accessing TikTok and Instagram. Despite the government’s claims, these tools suggest that internet services, especially on social media, were far from stable throughout Sunday.
