Social media’s fake news should not hurt Pakistan’s international relationships
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Pakistan’s political environment has heated up after opposition parties started an anti-government campaign by organizing political rallies in various parts of the country under the platform of the Pakistan Democratic Movement. But domestic politics have not been the only issue capturing headlines in the last three weeks. The country’s economy and in particular, its fate with the International Financial Watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also remained a matter of intense debate and speculation.
The nitty-gritty of FATF regulating mechanisms remain a complicated technical affair indeed and not a simple matter of lobbying in an international organization. The politicization of Pakistan’s case in particular by India through media campaigns, but also extensive lobbying within the organization and the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) has added further ambiguity into FATF’s approach toward Pakistan, bringing into focus Islamabad’s foreign relations, support and the lack of it.
For a common observer unaware of the world of financial regulations, it is difficult to comprehend all these complexities solely from the coverage of developments in daily news. Ever since Pakistan’s inclusion into the FATF’s grey list in 2018, whenever an FATF meeting takes place to review the case, Pakistani media and social media becomes abuzz with discussions-- often indulging in illogical speculations based on false premises and conspiracy theories.
As the FATF plenary was about to take place in October, a discourse began to emerge once more within media forums that Pakistan could finally be exiting the FATF grey list and be hailed as a pliant member of the international community.
Before the FATF reviewed Pakistan’s case at its annual meeting, false rumors began circulating on social media platforms that alleged Saudi Arabia was going against Pakistan at the forum at the behest of India. Audiences and social media activists began giving their opinions, ignoring the fact that Pakistan had not even been discussed as per the FATF meeting schedule.
Umar Karim
A few lone voices cautioned against unrealistic narratives, but were mostly ignored. Another key focus of speculation was the sort of backing Pakistan could bank upon in FATF deliberations, and what they might mean for the country’s foreign relations if Pakistan’s traditional allies were to withhold their support during this key meeting.
Before the FATF reviewed Pakistan’s case at its annual meeting, false rumors began circulating on social media platforms that alleged Saudi Arabia was going against Pakistan at the forum at the behest of India. Audiences and social media activists began giving their opinions, ignoring the fact that Pakistan had not even been discussed as per the FATF meeting schedule.
On the morning of Thursday, Oct. 22, Pakistan’s foreign office had to step in and reject these reports.
Eventually, the FATF decided against removing Pakistan from its grey list but did acknowledge the comprehensive progress made by the country on 21 points of action out of the 27 recommended by the organization.
Yet this didn’t end the rumor mills on social media.
Speculations kept getting more absurd. Even Afghanistan, it was said, had become a member of the FATF voting board and voted against Pakistan alongside India. That China and Turkey had sided with Pakistan, that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had abstained from voting.
Finally, the whole voting speculation was quashed by the country’s minister for Industries and Production, Hammad Azhar.
Azhar, who led Pakistan’s delegation at the FATF meeting, stated that there had been a consensus within FATF on the progress made by Pakistan, and hence no voting criteria had been applied. He also expressed his dismay at the rumors floating around in this regard, and his clarification eventually ended the saga.
It is clear that social media has become an important arena to disseminate disinformation and a tool for discourse management, but this must not happen at the cost of Pakistan’s foreign relations. The FATF rumor mill merits some questioning of the steps taken by the government to regulate social media use in Pakistan and the monitoring of fake news.
*Umar Karim is a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s strategic outlook, the Saudi-Iran tussle, conflict in Syria, and the geopolitics of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Twitter: @UmarKarim89
