Pakistan

Facebook ban: major businesses, NGOs affected

Naureen Aqueel/Jahanzaib Haque May 22, 2010

More than 38 major businesses and NGOs in Pakistan have been hit by the nationwide ban on popular social networking website Facebook.

Companies like uFone, Mobilink, Zong, DELL Pakistan and Pepsi Pakistan that have active Facebook pages with the number of members lying between 10,000 to 99,000, have been cut off from what was otherwise an easily accessible audience for marketing purposes.

Additionally, at least 500 companies in Pakistan having a Facebook presence are currently suffering as a result of the ongoing ban.

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms used by corporate and community organistations to connect easily with their targeted markets. Information about new products and services, events and community-based development projects are often communicated through Facebook pages.

Using Facebook pages has been so effective that some small companies have carried out their businesses solely by marketing on Facebook. Many local companies also use Facebook ads which can be obtained at a low cost to reach out to wider audiences.

All such activities came to a halt with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) ban on Facebook throughout the country. Companies who had already bought ad space from Facebook for a specified number of days have lost out on their investments as the Pakistani market will be unable to see the ads on Facebook till May 31.

There is some good news for these companies and NGOs as Facebook has opted to remove the offending page which had begun this controversy, but it remains to be seen whether the ban on Facebook will be removed or extended beyond May 31.

Below follows a list of businesses and NGOs affected by the Facebook ban. The list has been obtained from:

http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Internet_censorship

Business Pages (Commercial pages. Includes services.)

uFone --99,416 members -- Wireless / Cellular Provider

RealityPod --69,868 members -- Technology, Robotics and Gadgets Portal

Mobilink -- 28,448 members -- Wireless / Cellular Service Provider

Zong -- 20,882 members -- Wireless/Cellular Provider

DELL Pakistan -- 26,294 members -- equipment provider

DAWN.COM -- 16,000 members -- provides news

PEPSI Pakistan -- 13,271 members -- beverage manufacturer

Google Pakistan --4,206 members -- Google.com.pk Facebook presence

Newsweek Pakistan -- 7,802 members -- news provider

Cinnabon Pakistan -- 4,465 members

Wi-Tribe 5,272 members -- Wireless Broadband Provider

Levi's Pakistan -- 18,902 members

ETail.Pk -- 3,821 members -- Online Store

Standard Chartered Pakistan -- 1,333 members – Bank

The Express Tribune – 2,050 members – provides news

CIO Pakistan -- 863 members -- provides news

Inspurate Design -- Graphic & Web Design Service provider

Karachi Snob -- Restaurant Agregator

Daaman -- 47,101 members -- Fashion label

iinix -- Systems services

Telenor Easy Paisa -- 24,000 members -- micro-payments and mobile banking service. Everyday citizen is direct beneficiary of this product and its page

WordPL (the voice of the small biz owner) - 112 members -- Helping Pakistanis Make an Online Living

NGOs/ Community-Based Organizations' Pages All non-profit, advocacy organizations)

The Second Floor (T2F) -- 5,462 members -- Community organizations

Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) -- 2,717 members

TiE Lahore Chapter

TiE Karachi Chapter

Strengthening Democracy Through Parliamentary Debate

Pakistan Changemakers Hub -- 311 members -- Connecting community leaders with the public, to enable change for all

Pakistan Sustainability Network -- 1170 members -- Connecting people and organizations working for environment (renewable/ alternate energy, recycling, cleanliness drives, carbon footprint reduction, etc.)

SAYA Trust -- 801 members -- All fundraising activity for this school for the IDP's living in slums of Islamabad is conducted via a Facebook campaign.

Organizational/ Institutional Pages (Universities, governmental agencies, utilities, etc.)

LUMS -- 3,533 members --University

IBA -- 1,186 members - University

Karachi University -- 738 members -- University

NED -- 3,823 member -- University

Mehran University

KESC-Official -- 5,000 members -- Karachi Electric Supply Corporation uses this page to stay in contact with consumers

Government Pages

Pakistan Army -- 13,980 members

Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC)-- 3,874 members -- Pakistan Government

U.S. Embassy Pakistan -- 1,619 members

COMMENTS (38)

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Mujahid Ali | 14 years ago | Reply In my opinion,only the that portion of face book that that is causing embarrassment.

Asad Zia | 14 years ago | Reply ***Ban on face book is a bold step of Pakistani government and it means that our government has the power to stop this kind of acts. I think that ban on facebook is not correct decision because it not only use for wrong work but for also right works, large numbers of people share through facebook Qurani Iayat and discuss other Islamicrelated issues. Asad Zia*** asadzia2pk@yahoo.com

TL | 14 years ago | Reply Jahanzaib sb please edit the article for punctuation errors. What is Standard Charter? Please fix these issues for the goodwill of your website. Thanks

jahanzaib.haque | 14 years ago That list was taken verbatim from an external source. Thanks for pointing out the mistake though! (Web Editor)

CTL360 | 14 years ago | Reply With over 5000 fans, CTL360 has definitely taken a minor hit with the ban of facebook. Because it is a cost-effective creative agency we are only able to promote and advertise via social marketing tools...facebook needs to be unbanned asap. unfortunately they had deactivated that page but now its back and growing stronger than ever and all we can do is sit with our hands tied. oh and you guys forgot to mention Homexpress Social Media one of the largest social marketing businesses in Pakistan.

Waheed | 14 years ago | Reply It is better to ban Prono sites, which are destroying our youth.

Hunain Ali | 14 years ago | Reply I would like to tell you all, The page has NOT been removed..It is still there with more than 112,000 members.

Ayesha Hoda | 14 years ago | Reply Completely agree with this piece. Facebook is extremely useful at work as well. They banned it without thinking things through I guess. And what about the thousands of other websites that have content against Muslims and Islam? People should have countered the issue through debate and dialogue only. These are the kind of issues that can only be countered through intellect. And they gave so much publicity to the people who created this competition... exactly what they were looking for! The only positive outcome of this ban is perhaps that Pakistanis did not start burning their own shops and fighting amongst themselves, like they generally do.

Samandar Khan | 14 years ago | Reply Please staff at Tribune, Stop rejecting my comments. They are not abusive in any way. They are thought provoking yes. Stop limiting thought. Thanks, peace, Samandar Khan

Nadeem Zia | 14 years ago | Reply All Dear Muslims Aslamu alikum: The lose which is beared by Mulims is much more that that of these companies.We all Muslims will never allow to these mean websites to act some shamful activity.Surely, The greatness of our great Prophet can't be decrease but we as a Muslim condemn such kind of activity & are always be ready to secrifice our lives even.

Mustaghfer Atzaz | 14 years ago | Reply Some people are still using facebook. It might be hacked by them or through any other sourse. However, such websitess should strictly & permanently banned. And not onlt this one but all that are providing unethic metarial to our youngone. It may extermely dangoures for them. Mustaghfer Atzaz Rahim Yar Khan

ayman | 14 years ago | Reply aslam-o-alikum my dear muslim brothers and sisters ,its time that we all should get united .its high time wake your conscience and look around how your muslims brothers and sisters are persecuted and oppressed only because they are muslims.these worldly losses are temporary and surely those people will be awarded in the hereafter.these companies should also boycott them and should finish all their contracts with them.

Neha | 14 years ago | Reply It was prompt and on time initiative by the Pakistani authorities to ban the facbook,all the companies which are suffering should use other alternatives. It is not a matter of any political party but it's an issue which is related to whole of muslim ummah. Employees of these companies are also muslim and any muslim can't bear the insult of Hazrat Muhammad sallah ho alih wasalam at any cost. So please ask to employees of these companies whether they want to join the website or not. A is always ready to bear his personal loss for the sake of iman.

Ch. Allah Wassaya | 14 years ago | Reply It is NOT justified to cut away the ENTIRE arm, in case a tiny little mole develops on the arm. Pakistan Government has blocked the ENTIRE site of "facebook", instead of blocking an Objectionable Page.

Hunain Ali | 14 years ago | Reply Wow, our 'extremists' should be proud of this achievement ! I have been saying this since day one, this bloody boycott will end up damaging ourself..we should had fought this war the right way..the way it should had been fought :) And i feel proud to be one of those who are still on Facebook and doing what should be done. Misrepresentation of Islam, Misrepresentation of Pakistan, I strongly condemn the ban on Facebook !

Qasim | 14 years ago | Reply In my very own personal opinion. The decision Pakistani government took was right and the ban should continue. They've removed the group now; very well. But it wasn't good enough; they should have removed it right-away. Why waited for this long? Waited for 20th May to finish? Islam teaches us to practice patience, I completely agree to that and if someone will try to harm me in anyway or make fun of me, I'll try my level best to behave as good as possible and be patient. If "ANYONE" will ever try to say a word against Muhammad (S.A.W); I'll go ahead and will protest against it and will do everything possible. Someone started "IslamicFacebook" ... I don't mind it. If someone else has a better name and idea; go ahead. Just make sure on your social network website you respect your religion and other religions too. Let's not bring harm to anyone by our hands or by our words. Issue here is not what "everyone" else is doing; what Muslims are doing etc. etc. It's about facebook or any other website that are supporting any such pages. Facebook's spokes person said, "there's nothing wrong withe page." Now this was a wrong move. Youtube was blocked; Google came up with a statement that we'll take to Pakistani authorities and will try to resolve the issue and lift the ban. Now that's a way sensible statement to make and keeping the room for negotiation open. They may agree to remove such content and things will go ahead. But one day you'll come up saying, oh there's nothing wrong with it. It's all fine and then the competition day is over and you'll go ahead and ban it 'coz you're losing users. That's crap ... Islam also preaches forgiveness; we all Muslims know. But I'm sure you're not an idiot who can't understand what's happening behind the scene. Let's make sure we all make right decision and peacefully leave a right impression on non-Muslims.

afficer khan | 14 years ago | Reply "The greatest blasphemy of all is a child going hungry, a child condemned to the slow death of starvation. The miscarriage of justice is blasphemy. Misgovernment is blasphemy. An unconscionable gap between rich and poor is blasphemy. Denial of treatment to the sick, denial of education to the child, are alike examples of blasphemy." - Mr Justice Ali Nawaz Chohan (Muhammad Mahboob vs The State (PLD 2002 Lahore 587))

Nadir | 14 years ago | Reply I strongly approve the Pakistani government's ban on facebook but only if the government is true in its claims that they had contacted facebook and protested against the presence of pages as ridiculous as "Lets Draw Mohammed" (PBUH) first and got no response. If they just acted on an impulsive urge to prove their "muslimness" to the world, then I think our government is being its usual hypocritical self out to present an unwanted image. If the latter is true, I say let the GoP clean up their own act first and THEN act on a foreign website. Also, using this opportunity to ban every "politically objectionable" website under the sun is also not right and should not be tolerated by civil society in Pakistan. I am not in Pakistan at the moment so I don't know the facts but I have heard about Wikipedia etc being blocked as well. Let us not use a (now removed) page facebook as an (un-)holy excuse to further our deplorable political (censorship) aims. Having said that, long live Islam, and long live the kindness, life stories, teachings and the perfect example set by our beloved Prophet (PBUH). "They" can try to do whatever they want, overtly and covertly, but our religion will survive, because God has taken it upon Himself to make sure of this, since us muslims are quite unworthy of calling ourselves the "torch bearers" of Mohammed (PBUH) now anyway.

Nabeel | Create Your First Website | 14 years ago | Reply The exact source: sunan of Abu Daud. Book no.38 and Hadith no.4349 (narrated by Ali bin Abu Talib).

Hamza | 14 years ago | Reply Well these companies do have their facebook pages...But, in my opinion, their business does not depend upon facebook..Telecom Companies, for example, do not rely on facebook for income..Advertising through newspapers, magazines, television channels and billboards is still by far more effective than internet. I DONOT AGREE THAT BAN ON FACEBOOK WILL AFFECT THE BUSINESS OF ANY ORGANIZATION INSIDE PAKISTAN.

Saiyed Hussain Shahbazi | 14 years ago | Reply As proud millennial Muslims, we should think about how our Prophet Muhammad would respond to such silly faux controversies. We should all be reminded of a well-known Islamic parable which tells the story of the Prophet Mohammed and his daily interactions with an unruly female neighbor who used to curse him violently and then proceed to dump garbage onto him every day from her perchtop window each time he would ever walk by her house. One day, the Prophet noticed that the woman was not present to throw garbage outside of her window. In true prophetic kindness, he actually went out of his way to inquire about her well-being and then proceeded to visit this unfriendly neighbor at her bedside inside of her own home when he had found out that she had fallen sick. This genteel act of prophetic kindness toward unfriendly (and overtly hostile) neighbors is the Muslim 'Ubuntu' standard that we should all use within our collective lives -- not threats of violence aimed at the silliness of some sophomoric cartoons aimed at inciting a provocative response around the world. As people get in a huffy over a bunch of stupid cartoons, every Muslim around the world should take a very deep breath and simply ask themselves one basic question: "What Would Muhammad Do?"

Muhammad Jafri | 14 years ago | Reply I am amazed and shocked by the Paki muslim mentality. Here they are talking about the love of the Prophet saws and on the other hand they simply copied Facebook to have a new Islamifacebook, doesnt have the creativity to even have our own brand name. We are totally retarded mentally and have our intrepretations as Islam.

Arzoo | 14 years ago | Reply We Support Ban on Facebook If Any of this company has problems with Ban they should go to Lahore High Court Facebook Provided Platform to Blasphemers to use it for Biggest blasphemous event Against Muslims so justice done to them

Omar Faroo | 14 years ago | Reply What amazing it is they are not asking for forgivness and you are representing it from them...

Omar Faroo | 14 years ago | Reply @ Hajira This forgivness doesn't take place here.There is a hadith where it mentions that the Prophet PBUH should be more dearer to the believer than his own children, parents and even himself. A believer should be ready to give his life for the Prophet PBUH but in this case,nobody is asking you to give your life, the only thing which is being asked from you is to refrain from accessing Facebook on the internet from among the many other activities you do on the internet for entertainment purposes. Why we don't understand it....

yamna hashmi | 14 years ago | Reply last evening i came across a news that a pakistani karachi student made a seperate fan page related to ADOLF HITLER, within two days facebook administration not only removed his page from facebook but also permanently deleted his own personal profile, and issued him a letter which said that he has no right to hurt the feelings of jews and he cannot touch such sensitive issues on a social networking website like facebook!! if facebook can take such action within such a short time then definitely facebook authorities were very well aware of what was going on and what could be the consequencies! so in my opinion facebook ban is absolutely correct as beyond draw muhammad (PBUH) naazubillah there were many other anti islam pages working on facebook and millions of people reported them but no serious action was taken!! this may even be beneficial for pakistan as it may urge pakistani youth to come up with such websites on their own and there are few working aswell!! as far as loss of ngos and other companies is concerned they survived before facebook and there loss is not more important then our Prophet (SAWW) if we took such a action ALLAH is denitely there to help us!! http://life.xovirax.co.cc/life/ islamicfacebook.com these websites may be not as good as facebook but we have security over here,

Fawwad Shafi | 14 years ago | Reply Stupid decision to have facebook banned. Wait till it is un-banned. All these people supporting the ban will be on it again. These are the same people who anxiously await for their visas for the western countries where these websites are based. These supporters of the bans are just hypocrites, supporting the ban and at the same time wanting to leave this country for better prospects abroad. Lift the ban. If people believe in something so intensely then they should de-activate their accounts voluntarily rather than this enforce ban. That would have been better. All force is wrong.

Karachi Snob | 14 years ago | Reply Thanks for adding our name (KarachiSnob) to the list. However, we have not been affected much by the banning of Facebook. Only about 4% of our site users come from Facebook and luckily we have diversified the means in which we are able to contact our site fans. I would say that the small businesses have been mostly affected since that was their main way of keeping in contact with their customer database. The larger companies generally have a well-established name, a separate client database and a frequently visited website or location. Therefore Facebook is just an added resource, but not necessarily a crucial marketing tool. A KarachiSnob site fan created our Facebook group when we first launched the site and we continue to maintain it as more of a fun marketing supplement, but most people just come directly to KarachiSnob.com for their daily needs. This would probably explain our increase in traffic since the Facebook ban. Nonetheless, we surely hope for the speedy re-opening of Facebook, as a few of our team members are showing withdrawal symptoms. In reference to our description in the article, "restaurants" is only one of 44 categories on our site. We may do some "restaurant aggregating", but KarachiSnob.com is better classified as a "fine business directory" showcasing the top businesses in the city.

Hajira | 14 years ago | Reply @ sajid, our religon teaches us forgiveness... I had joined The hadith . daily messages came from that page which had hadith and quranic ayats on different topics. i on the other hand wouldnt have found about them if i wasnt on facebook. and if im not wrong islam also teaches us not to harm anyone in any way be it physical, mental, financial etc. so our muslim companies are being harmed financially. the ban did take place, but the event also occured, and they are done with it. you people are just giving them a reason to laugh at us. and just to annoy us they are going to make more websites whch our gov hasnt blocked yet. so patience is the key.

Sajid Ahmed | 14 years ago | Reply It was a really good and timely response by "PTA" to ban the facbook. Every time "they" hurt our believe and insult our holly religion Islam. this is a highly unethical deeds performing again and again by american, European and other non Muslims, and every time our Muslims countries don't react practically. I think we are preferring our business to our religion "Islam". in my opinion "Face-book" is nothing only a "time killing activity" by enhancing e-networking. In this article the author enlisted statistics of numbers No.of users in difference organization, but he did not tell how these users were using the facebook, how hours, how weeks, how months they were wasting at facebook. I am sure, any NGO or organization shall never close its operations just only because of facebook. Our Holy Prophet, Our Islam, Our Quran first.................. then others...... (Thanks)

Zahoor | 14 years ago | Reply Well, you people did not mention the ban effects on Pakistani Politics. One future political party which is going to be created only on the bases of feedback sent by FB fans (Approximately 200,000 fan)to the leader of that party. Hope you better know who is that leader. :))

Malaika | 14 years ago | Reply It was a good and prompt initiative by the Pakistani authorities to ban the facbook but now as the facebook page is down, it would be appropriate to lift the facebook ban. As many people are suffering from it, many businesses and other activities are in a heldup position so in my opinion it would be better now to lift the facebook ban.

SadafFayyaz | 14 years ago | Reply The events are not mentioned that people create on FB. Different events and work shops take place and people r invited... now no updates from any side...what event is happening, where and when... Cant publish or write anything in my magazine...

Ramla A. | 14 years ago | Reply P.S. The readers are invited to add their pages to the wiki.

Ramla A. | 14 years ago | Reply Good post. Edit note: You'll need to fix the URLs.

Ahsan | 14 years ago | Reply How business of companies like telecom got affected by facebook ban anyone kindly explain it to me???

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