A multinational online marketplace for freelance services fiverr – which has gained immense popularity in the country – has made some Pakistani accounts “unavailable” amid country-wide internet disruptions for the last many days.
According to the freelancing platform, it took the action to ensure that the accounts were not affected by unexpected and unpreventable delays amid internet disruptions in Pakistan.
“On August 1st, we temporarily set all gigs and availability status’ for our Pakistani sellers to unavailable, ensuring your ratings and success score were not impacted by factors outside of your control,” fiverr said in a message posted in the community notes.
Internet services have been disrupted across Pakistan, with the exact cause yet to be identified, while X (formerly Twitter) remains blocked in the country for almost six months.
Internet services face disruption across Pakistan, PTA blames PTCL
Netizens have critcised the government for keeping mum on the issue amid buzz that the disruptions have been caused by a firewall being installed to allegedly monitor and keep a check on internet users.
However, fiverr did not suspend Pakistani freelancers as was claimed by some social media users.
“fiverr has not banned Pakistani accounts and neither has the platform officially said this anywhere. It only made accounts of those freelancers unavailable where there were some delays,” Ali Ahmad, a fiverr user, told Business Recorder.
“Freelancers can make their accounts available again by following some steps,” Ahmad added.
Internet disruptions in Pakistan are becoming increasingly common with some instances blamed on submarine faults. Additionally, blockage of websites, and internet ‘throttling’ have also caused massive losses to the IT sector.
In a statement on Thursday, the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) also warned that frequent internet disruptions in Pakistan “could derail” the country’s economic progress.
The OICCI said it has consistently advocated for a strong digital infrastructure as the backbone of Pakistan’s economic development.
“However, frequent internet disruptions, such as the one currently affecting the nation, as highlighted by the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP), threaten this vision. WISPAP has reported that, over the past few weeks, internet speeds have plummeted by 30-40%,” OICCI said in its post on X.
The statement was followed by the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) stating in a press release that Pakistan’s economy could lose up to $300 million due to internet disruptions caused by imposition of a national firewall.
Ali Ihsan, senior vice chairman of P@SHA, said the issue had already caused prolonged internet disconnections and erratic VPN performance, threatening a “complete meltdown of business operations”.
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT has also sought an explanation from Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Hafiz Rehman, regarding the ongoing nationwide social media disruption.
The committee, chaired by Amin ul Haq, asked Rehman to provide reasons behind the disruption in social media services.
The committee also requested details about the nationwide internet service disruption and weak mobile signals.
The Attorney General of Pakistan has also been invited to the committee’s meeting, scheduled for August 21 at the Parliament House.