Framework for Social Media Regulation in Pakistan - Maheen Shafeeq - Working Paper

Non-state actors are also using social media tools as an essential means to network, raise funds, train, recruit and influence the populace.2 According to a report by the United States (US)’ National Institute of Justice, social media played a prominent role in inspiring recruitment for al-Qaeda and Hezbollah.3 RAND disclosed that social media was a resourceful tool for the Islamic State of Iraq a. [...] This type of intervention by the government would require reorganising and restructuring of social media networks in a manner that the regulations present a remedy to the cause of dysfunction instead of mitigating its symptoms. [...] ‘Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules, 2021’.23 The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) published the first set of rules on 21 January 2020 under the title ‘Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020’.24 These rules received enormous criticism and were labelled a disaster for freedom of expression in the. [...] Second, Chapter 2 of these Rules is titled ‘Safeguarding the Freedom of Speech and Expression.’49 This is in contradiction to the title of the legislation. [...] Even after the second and third legislation, ‘Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules, 2020’53 and ‘Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules, 2021,’54 respectively, when the chapter of freedom of expression was added, Pakistan was still criticised and the 2022 World Press Freedom ranked the count.