Did India Unblock Pakistani Cricketers’ Accounts by Error? Know What Actually Happened

Two months ago, after the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, the Indian government made a conscious decision to ban all the social media accounts of Pakistani celebrities and cricketers in India. The unfortunate event shook the entire nation and called for a nationwide ban on Pakistan and its citizens across various platforms.

To send a strong message to the neighboring country, a crucial decision to ban all social media accounts was taken. However, on July 2, Wednesday, social media accounts of some former Pakistani cricketers were visible in India. This visibility frustrated many netizens, and the outrage was quite evident on social media.

Why were Pakistani Cricketers Social Media Accounts Unblocked?

As per sources, the Pakistani cricketers social media accounts were only available for a brief period of time due to technical issues. Later, they were banned again by the government. However, the outrage didn't stop with the fans as they flooded social media with #BanPakistanContent. The YouTube channels of cricketers Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar were also visible in India.

Interestingly, the accounts of celebrities like Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, and Hania Aamir weren't available. When the account was banned, the Instagram message showed, “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.” In May, the Indian government urged the OTT platforms, media streaming services, and digital intermediaries to remove any kind of content related to Pakistan. Even Fancode stopped the live streaming of Pakistan matches in India.

"OTT platforms, media streaming platforms and intermediaries operating in India are advised to discontinue the web-series, films, songs, podcasts and other streaming media content, whether made available on a subscription-based model or otherwise, having their origins in Pakistan with immediate effect," the advisory read.

Why were Pakistani Cricketers Social Media Accounts Banned?

What happened on April 22, 2025, at Pahalgam was a tragic accident. Even after two months, the sorrow and pain haven't subsided in the hearts of any Indians. Having gone on a vacation to Kashmir, the tourists were attacked by terrorists. They killed more than 25 tourists in the attack. Hence, the government decided to take action, on and off the battlefield.

After the completion of Operation Sindoor, the Indian government decided to ban the social media accounts of all on May 2, 2025; all the accounts of Pakistani players were banned in India. Despite having a border between them, Indians consumed a lot of content from Pakistani players on their Instagram and YouTube accounts. Hence, they had a huge number of followers and likes before getting banned.

However, things have taken a different turn since the ban. It was seen that the likes and followers rate of them has drastically dropped since the ban. The neighboring country is under tremendous pressure regarding India's ban on their social media accounts. Most of their followers were from India.

Since social media plays a significant role in today's generation, the government's ban was a wise decision. Meanwhile, regarding the visibility of social media accounts, while there have been no formal statements released by the government on this mishap, it's quite brilliant that the damage control was done right on time.