Losses worth thousands of dollars: Local firms suspend facebook ads

Daily Times - KARACHI: Facebook is bound to face losses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars as the website’s blockade in Pakistan has propelled local companies to suspend their advertisements and other commercial activities.

The Pakistan Telecomm-unication Authority (PTA) had blocked facebook on the directives of the Lahore High Court (LHC). On increasing popularity of facebook, hundreds of companies from the private sector were engaged in business with facebook for advertisement and commercial purposes.

Facebook, the international social network group, has nearly 2.4 million subscribers in Pakistan who daily click the website several times a day. It is the third most visited website in Pakistan after google.com and google.com.pk, according to the global web information company Alexa. Pakistani subscribers have created hundreds of groups, activities and events on facebook besides personal pages. Dozens of companies in corporate sector and TV channels have also developed their audience on facebook.

Particularly, cellular phone companies have provided facebook access to subscribers through their connections. The subscribers could also update their facebook pages through SMS on their networks. Talking to officials in the sector, it was revealed that the cellular phone companies have suspended their heavy advertisement campaigns and other activities from facebook after it was blocked in the country.

According to officials, companies pay $1,200 to $2,500 monthly to facebook on every ad depending on its space, time and location. In addition to revenues from local companies, Pakistani subscribers generate additional revenues to facebook when they click on different links and ads on its pages that will also cause losses to the social networking site. “We have discontinued our advertisements till May 31 as there is no use of service promotion on inaccessibility of customers to the social networking platform,” an official of the company said requesting fort anonymity.

Cellular phone companies and its users other activities on facebook had also discontinued. The advertisements are likely to remain off the website after May 31 also as the ill content has badly affected the sentiments of customers.

During the last couple of days, cellular phone companies witnessed heavy traffic of SMS containing appeal to deactivate facebook accounts by different users. Before, the LHC’s decision a significant number of customers had deactivated their accounts on facebook and some of them found their accounts terminated by facebook on the creation of protest, holocaust and anti-Jewish blocks and activity in the last couple of days.

PTA, earlier, had blocked only the URL that contained blasphemous content; however, it directed all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block this website completely following LHC’s verdict issued on May 19. PTA is strictly monitoring ISPs traffic and ensured that the LHC’s order must be followed. The country has nearly five million Internet users on the network of 10 broadband operators and 50 other ISPs.