Social media balance and Pakistan

The phenomenon of social media has dramatically changed behaviours, preferences, and opportunities in the sphere of interpersonal communication. However, it has also presented formidable issues such as the spread of fake news, cyberbullying, and the use of social media platforms for spreading hatred. To respond to these many-faceted challenges, the incumbent government in Pakistan has introduced the ‘Digital Rights Protection Bill’ to address the protection of citizen rights, especially for women, children and members of minorities, and deal with threats of extremism and terrorism through the regulation of social media.

The need to pass the bill arises mainly due to the increasing cases of cyber stalking, blackmailing, sextortion and offences against women using social media. It also seeks to limit the use of indecent religious content especially that found on social media sites. As a result, the purpose of this bill is to ban distasteful content relating to children and minorities in addition to ensuring that they have adequate protection in the online environment. This protective attitude is particularly helpful in a country where various scopes of life are reflected on social media as gender discrimination and persecution of minorities.

To attain these objectives, the government has come up with the Digital Rights Protection Authority (DRPA) under the PECA 2016. The DRPA will assist the government in decision-making processes concerning digital rights; provide information on the risks associated with the Internet; teach citizens to use Internet responsibly and engage in cooperation with social networks in the fight against violations of legal requirements. The creation of this authority is a clear indication of pro-action toward addressing issues arising in the new world of computers and innovations.

Among the responsibilities of the DRPA are: licensing and monitoring content-generation on Internet; conducting investigations on the commission of a legal offence on social media; arresting or proceeding to arrest offenders; and summoning persons of interest. Also, the authority will be endowed with the powers to give directions, make contracts and set management policies that shall be used to execute the provided digital rights laws. All of these responsibilities clearly imply the fact that the government has a duty of ensuring that the new and advanced world we are now living in is safe from fraudsters and that accountability is enhanced.

As a legal regulation that fulfills the above-mentioned aims, the legislation has evoked certain doubts associated with the restrictions of freedom of expression and risks of governmental misuse. The detractors say that earlier governments used such previous laws to apprehend dissidents on social media websites or else altered them to criminalise independent voices; they have subjected journalists and activists to 205 condemnable cases. They insist that such measures can be also regulated by political leaders thus limiting the rights and freedom of speech in a democracy.

The government should involve civil society organisations, digital rights activist and the public in the process of the formulation and enactment of legislation to enhance social accountability. The problem of illicit content on social media can be better solved by reinforcing civil defamation laws than criminalising misuse of social media as it protects the freedom of speech. Thus, this balance maintaining approach controls the digital industry without violating the country’s constitution.

Therefore, the digitisation of Pakistan through the Digital Rights Protection Bill aspires to protect citizens’ rights coupled with a focused attention on the minority. It attempts to curb misuse of the freedom of the use of Internet while at the same time promoting the sale of shares to the foreigners.

But here, it is necessary to point out that sometimes it becomes essential to balance over-regulation to that freedom of speech. The government should draw the participation of relevant stakeholders in the legislative process and think about an alternative solution to make the protective framework of the digital rights of Pakistan more effective.