A landmark social-media moment has arrived in Pakistan, with Facebook consolidating its dominance as the country’s principal digital platform amid a youth-led surge in online usage. According to newly released data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), over 101 million Pakistanis are now active on Facebook, placing it firmly at the centre of the nation’s evolving digital ecosystem.
Surge in usage: By the numbers
- Facebook tops the list at 101 million users.
- YouTube follows at approximately 96.62 million users — underlining Pakistan’s appetite for video content.
- WhatsApp has 91.75 million users, reflecting its role as a mainstream communication channel.
- TikTok reaches 90.03 million users despite regulatory and public-concern headwinds.
- Instagram has 49.9 million users, while Snapchat reports 70.98 million — a noteworthy total, especially among younger demographics.
- X (formerly Twitter) trails significantly with 15.3 million users — hinting at its niche role in discourse.
What’s driving the surge?
The factors behind this social-media boom in Pakistan include:
- Rising internet and mobile penetration: With more affordable devices and data plans, large swathes of youth are connecting online for the first time.
- Content shift toward video and social interaction: Platforms such as YouTube and TikTok thrive as users gravitate to dynamic video formats — while Facebook remains a hub for community, commerce and content.
- Commerce & informal marketplaces: WhatsApp and Instagram increasingly serve as platforms for micro-entrepreneurs, home-based sellers and SMEs. Facebook’s groups and marketplace features also remain central.
- Youth-centric culture: Teenagers and young adults are shaping digital culture on Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram — driving trends, memes, creative bits, and peer-group interactions.
- Cross-generational adoption of Facebook: Unlike newer social platforms more heavily skewed to younger users, Facebook continues to retain and attract a broader age range — from local commerce and community groups to job-search and news sharing.
Implications for Pakistan’s digital space
- Platform dominance: Facebook’s user numbers suggest that for many Pakistanis, it is still the “default” online space for personal, business, and community-engagement use.
- Youth engagement and activism: Social media is increasingly the arena where young people engage, express identity, mobilise opinions and access content beyond legacy media. Research indicates heavy youth involvement in political discussion and digital activism.
- Business and informal economy: The surge empowers micro-entrepreneurs and digital commerce, particularly through social-media enabled business models.
- Governance, policy and regulation: The volume and diversity of use raise new challenges for regulators. Oversight of content, data protection, digital literacy and online safety are brought into sharper focus.
- Cultural and social shifts: The nature of communication, community-building and social interaction is changing as digital natives adopt new patterns of behaviour — from ephemeral content on Snapchat, to influencer culture and short-form video.
Challenges ahead
- Digital literacy and safety: As more users come online, the need for digital-media literacy, especially among youth, becomes acute. Studies highlight risks of polarisation and echo-chambers.
- Content moderation and regulation: Existing frameworks such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and related rules face pressure to keep pace with evolving platforms and user behaviours.
- Privacy and data-security concerns: With large-scale sharing of personal data and expansion of social commerce (for example, Facebook matrimony groups raise unique privacy risks).
- Diverse engagement patterns: While Facebook remains dominant, growth on other platforms like TikTok and Snapchat suggests user preferences are varied — meaning platform strategies, business models and digital-policy responses must be flexible.
A local digital-economy analyst commented:
“Facebook remains the digital home of Pakistan — for commerce, community, content and connection. But the youth wave is reshaping how these platforms are used, and what they mean for business, culture and regulation.”
As Pakistan’s online population continues to grow, social-media platforms will play an increasingly central role in economic activity, social change and public discourse. For policy-makers, business leaders and developers alike, the scale and nature of this surge demand proactive adaptation — in regulation, platform features, privacy safeguards and digital-skills education.
For Pakistan’s youth in particular, social media is not just a pastime it’s a space of self-expression, entrepreneurship and connectivity. How that space evolves will be shaped by the platforms themselves (like Facebook), user behaviour, and the regulatory environment in which they operate.
