Over the past few months, the country has been in the grip of frequent internet breakdowns and bans, with the popular social media platform Twitter/X blocked in Pakistan since February 2024.
In addition to this, the government is planning to further toughen the existing Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) of 2016 which governs digital and social media in the country and has been used by both the current and previous PTI government to rein in criticism, especially on social media. The PECA law has been used by the governments to send notices to anyone deemed to have made a post on social media that the government or the state doesn’t like or that they think is anti-state. The notice asks the respondent to appear at the local FIA office but is otherwise vague. In many cases, journalists who were served these notices went to court and the latter ruled that these had no legal standing and that a citizen could not be called in this manner without cause. However, this practice has continued and is likely to continue in the future as well since the de facto primary objective is to harass and make life miserable for the respondent.
Then there is the issue of VPNs, which the government wanted to block by November 30 and allow only ‘registered’ ones. It was unclear which VPNs were even registered. Most of the VPNs used by Pakistanis are based abroad and it is unlikely that they would seek to register themselves with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
The most recent development on this front is that the government is planning to set up a Digital Rights Protection Authority (DRPA) to regulate digital and social media in particular. It will work under the PECA law but at the same time the PECA law will be further broadened and new more stringent punishments and penalties will be introduced for social and digital media users. Furthermore, the changes will also include VPNs under the law which will then legally enable the government to block VPNs as well.
If you want to have a legal framework to regulate social media and the internet, then by all means, go ahead and set it up – the European Union has a very stringent one where it’s often at loggerheads with tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and more recently Elon Musk and his X.
From a government’s point of view, it makes sense to want to control the flow of information. After all, governments the world over are concerned about this, even in the most democratic of societies in Europe and North America. However, they desist from taking any actions that make them look as if they are acting in a dictatorial fashion, in a manner reminiscent more of the Dark Ages than the 21st century.
And this is something that countries like Pakistan also need to emulate. If you want to have a legal framework to regulate social media and the internet, then by all means, go ahead and set it up – the European Union has a very stringent one where it’s often at loggerheads with tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and more recently Elon Musk and his X.
However, the government needs to take an inclusive and consultative approach to the changes that it plans on making to the PECA law. It had said some months ago that it would engage with and consult stakeholders like internet service providers, tech and digital companies, social media platforms, and those closely associated with social and digital media like journalists and news organisations. In the case of countering fake news and disinformation, this can be particularly helpful, since mainstream media organisations stand to gain by uniting against them and by taking measures to combat them. The consultation and engagement haven’t been done to date, and it needs to ensure that their views and ideas are also considered.
In addition to this, PECA should not be used as a tool to harass and intimidate journalists and anyone who is seen as a critic of the government and the establishment. This doesn’t mean that nothing should be done – but with the laws in place, anyone who is deemed in violation of it should be charged with the relevant law and tried in a court of law with due legal representation. Random notices and arrests in the middle of the night by unidentified persons need to stop. Yes, they happened when the PTI was in government as well but that didn’t make it right then and it surely doesn’t make it right now. The mindset that something can be wished away by just blocking needs to be changed with a worldview that digital and social media are an integral part of the lives of most Pakistanis and are in fact seen as necessities in today’s world. Furthermore, tens of millions of Pakistanis use them to make a living, and that explains why, for the first time, the country’s IT exports crossed $3 billion (in 2023-24) – but all that has been put at risk by the deliberate – though always denied – slowing down of the internet by the present government.
This needs to be done and followed through – not least if the government and the ruling party want Pakistanis and indeed the rest of the world to take seriously their pronouncements of bringing a digital revolution to Pakistan.