Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan protest against the arrest of their leader in Lahore, Pakistan. | Stringer / Reuters On April 16, Pakistan blocked all popular social media and internet messaging applications including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and WhatsApp for four hours across the country to “maintain public order” in anticipation of protests by the recently-banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. Such blocking undermines fundamental rights, impacts an already fragile economy, defies the logic of security and punishes citizens for the state’s mistakes. Whereas in the past the state has used measures such as network shutdowns in particular areas of protests and blocking of particular social media applications for as long as around four years in the case of YouTube, this is the first time that all popular social media applications including WhatsApp were blocked simultaneously for all citizens.