Is Pakistan's Digital Economy at Risk from Censorship?

Pakistan’s goals towards a Digital Pakistan have been eroded in the year 2024 with the rise of censorship and control by the state on social media platforms. Day after day we’ve been witnessing amendments within existing legislation like the Prevention of Electronics Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 along with new bills being introduced such as the National Forensics Bill 2024 and the Digital Nation Pakistan Act to be tabled soon. These alarming trends of regulation of platforms and making e-governance structures that push towards data surveillance in a country where freedom of expression is already restricted and limited are extremely alarming.

Just a day ago the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) revealed taking action against 150 individuals, including journalists, vloggers and anchorperson Harmeet Singh, for allegedly proposing false narratives against state institutions. Apart from actions like these Parliament Secretary for the Cabinet Division revealed that the government has blocked around 80,000 sims to counter ‘fake news’. There has also been an emphasis in the last month on registering Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in the country the date for which now has been extended.

Apart from these measures, the coalition government Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed two task forces after the protests in Islamabad by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. The two task forces will be identifying and taking legal action against rioters who were part of the march and investigate suspects that according to the government are spreading a ‘malicious campaign’ to spread ‘concocted, baseless and inciting’ online news, images and video content against the state and security forces. The Pakistan army has also been calling for action against political elements using fake news for their interests.

These statements and measures adopted by the state have been concerning for everyone since not only do they undermine fundamental freedoms but also leave an open room for interpretation by regulatory bodies to classify fake news and disinformation as they deem fit. With little to no accountability and transparency around how these measures are being implemented and used against citizens one can see that this environment of censorship has grown twofold now in Pakistan.

In these times citizens need to be well informed and share information very carefully on social media platforms. Sharing news that is unverified may be damaging now with new regulatory measures being adopted by the state. As representatives talk about making Pakistan into a budding digital economy and promoting the use of digital platforms one wonders that with adopting these strict regulatory measures and rising censorship can Pakistan truly achieve its goals or are we now moving towards the dark ages for the internet? With internet shutdowns being the new normal now for citizens using the internet time will only tell the direction Pakistan will be taking moving ahead.

Seerat Khan is the co-founder and Editor in Chief at Echoes Media as well as  a digital rights activist working with the Digital Rights Foundation as the Programs Lead.