Recently there have been rumors going around that the government wishes to most likely ban social media in Pakistan. In this day and age that sounds medieval, especially during the time of COVID-19 where we are struggling to go out and live our normal lives.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is also famed to use social media and the internet as a source of crucial and significant information, he states that the government will not impose a ban on social media.
“But at the same time, we also can’t let anyone insult or spread false information about government organisations or the people working for them,” - PM Imran Khan
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and Ministry of Information Technology had a short delay in preparing the regulations of social media which did not go unnoticed by the PM.
The PTI government has been criticised for its decisions in regards to monitoring and regulating the content posted on social media. This arrived subsequently after the government placed a temporary ban on popular online game 'PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds' (PUBG) and issued a warning to the social media app called TikTok.
In February, the PM had stated that new rules were being introduced only to protect citizens and regulate social media in the country, this was stated after the PTI government decided to impose restrictions in order to protect citizens and regulate social media for the people.
While conducting a meeting to review social media guideline, the Prime Minister disclosed that the new guidelines were not prepared to curb freedom of expression or victimise political opponents. He further reinstated that the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore and other countries were also introducing such laws to protect their citizens. Because if other counties are doing it, why shouldn’t we?
However, no action for the implementation of the proposed rules was followed.
As altruistic of an act this may seem by the PM, unfortunately banning social media or restricting and regulating the platform is not a permanent solution to real problems that are not acknowledged and sooner or later they will need to be dealt with.
