ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has introduced new social media rules to make digital networks and internet service providers block and remove “unlawful online content” or face shutdown in case of non-compliance, making digital rights activists claim the measure has been taken to curb freedom of expression in the country.
Under the rules notified on Wednesday, social media companies are bound to block access to unlawful online content within twenty-four hours — or in emergency cases, within six hours — after being reported by a government authority.
If a social media company or internet service provider fails to abide by the rules, “the authority may issue directions for blocking of the entire online system or any services provided by such service providers or social media company,” reads the 13-page document.
Islamabad has been struggling to regulate online content by blocking and removing fake news and propaganda against the country’s national security institutions, including the army, blasphemous content, and other sensitive material that violates cultural and ethnic norms of the country. So far, the authorities have fully received cooperation from social media companies in the absence of local rules that regulate these networking platforms.
“The purpose of these rules is to ensure effective implementation of local laws through quick removal of unlawful, defamatory, obscene and pornographic content from social media platforms,” Khurram Ali Mehran, a spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, told Arab News.
He said the rules were framed in compliance with the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act that was passed by parliament in 2016. “We are asking social media companies to open their offices in Pakistan to address genuine complaints of our users as per the law,” he said.
The government issued almost similar social media rules earlier in February, but later withdrew them after protests from digital rights activists and social media giants.
Under the rules, the social media companies and internet service providers with more than half a million users in Pakistan are required to register with the authority, establish a permanent office in Islamabad, and appoint a focal person based in the country within nine months and within three months, respectively, of coming into force of these rules.
The rules also suggest that the companies will be bound to establish one or more database servers in Pakistan within eighteen months of coming into force of these rules to store data and online content, but it is subject to the promulgation of data protection law.
“This is just to give the impression that there is a legal cover for this [blocking the online dissent and freedom of expression], but how legal this is and how constitutional this is, is up for challenge,” Farieha Aziz, a digital rights activist who heads Bolo Bhi, told Arab News.
She said the government was shrouding it all with the provision of a complaint mechanism to address grievances, but that was not enough to deal with the important issue. “Journalists and activists have a lot to lose out because social media is now their only other avenue [to express themselves],” Aziz said.
Any person aggrieved by any order or direction of the authority under the rules may file a review application within thirty days from the date of the passing of the order, and it will be decided within thirty working days. An appeal against the authority’s order can also be filed in a high court within thirty days of the order of the authority.
The rules allow any individual, government department, including a law enforcement or intelligence agency, to file a complaint against any unlawful online content with reasons for its removal or blocking access on digital platforms.
The rules have also brought internet services providers on a par with the social media companies and all the requirements have been applied to them as well, which they have termed unnecessary and in violation of the country’s cyber laws.
“We neither have capability nor the resources to monitor our traffic and identify those indulging in any unlawful online activity,” Wahaj-us-Siraj, convener of the Internet Services Providers Association of Pakistan, told Arab News.
“The government has unnecessarily dragged us into it,” he said. “This will make our business difficult, and provide the government with a tool to twist telecom operators’ arm.”