Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has decided to ban ads for illegal housing schemes on social media on the directives of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA).

The LDA stated that several unapproved and illegal housing projects are being marketed through SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube advertisements.

According to the LDA, advertisers portray an attractive picture of their projects despite their legal statuses which results in the illegal sale and purchase of files or plots.

The LDA has received numerous complaints in this regard, most of which by people who had purchased land after falling prey to rigorous and large scale publicity and social media advertisements.

However, the development authority highlighted that according to the Rule-45 of the LDA Private Housing Scheme Rules, 2014, the sponsor can not initiate any publicity of scheme or sub-division and the sale of plots before obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from it.