Pakistan government secretly passes strict social media regulations
CPJ
Washington, D.C., February 13, 2020 -- The Pakistan government should immediately roll back a set of social media regulatory measures that were passed in secret, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
On January 28, the federal cabinet approved the “Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020,” a set of regulations on social media content, without public consultation; the measures were enacted in secret and were reported yesterday by The News International, an English-language daily.
A copy of the regulations, which was leaked online, shows that the rules empower the government to fine or ban social media platforms over their users’ content. The regulations provide for a National Coordinator to be appointed within the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications responsible for enforcing the rules.
In the text of the regulations, the government claims the rules were approved under the authority of the 2016 Pakistan Electronic Communications Act.
“These stringent but vague rules approved by Pakistan’s federal cabinet threaten the ability of journalists to report the news and communicate with their sources,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “The cabinet should immediately reverse course and seek broad consultations with legislators and civil society, including the media, on how to proceed with any such regulations.”
The regulations require social media companies including Facebook (which owns WhatsApp), Twitter, and Google (which owns YouTube), to establish representative offices in Pakistan to answer complaints filed by the National Coordinator.
The companies are also required to remove content deemed objectionable by the National Coordinator within 24 hours, and to provide to the regulator decrypted content and “any other information” about users on demand.
The companies are also made responsible for preventing the live streaming of any content “related to terrorism, extremism, hate speech, defamation, fake news, incitement to violence and national security.” If a service is does not comply, the National Coordinator is granted the power to block services and levy fines of up to 500 million rupees ($3.24 million).
The regulations do not specify how encrypted services such as WhatsApp would be able to comply with the rules.
Firdous Ashsiq Awan, special assistant to the prime minister on information and broadcasting, said in a press conference today that the regulations were aimed at protecting citizens’ interests and national integrity, and said the government would not take any steps against users’ interests, according to news reports.
Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a member of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party and chair of the senate Human Rights Committee, told CPJ via messaging app that the rules were seen “as an attempt to further restrict space of free discourse in Pakistan,” citing censorship imposed on the media under the current government.
He said the Pakistan People’s Party would oppose the rules in the parliament and the courts.
Media Matters for Democracy, a local organization that promotes press freedom, said in a statement that the rules were an attempt to silence political opposition and critics, and expressed doubt that social media companies would comply.
A separate statement by the Digital Rights Foundation, which promotes internet safety, described the rules as a “blatant violent” of free speech provisions in Pakistan’s constitution and expressed concern that the rules would lead to self-censorship.
On February 11, Pakistan’s Senate Committee On Human Rights rejected legislation that would have empowered the country’s broadcast regulator to regulate internet and digital content, according to reports and Senator Khokhar.
Shooting the messenger
Editorial DAWN
Updated February 18, 2020
TO shoot the messenger is the go-to tactic for authoritarian leaders; facts are anathema if inconsistent with the airbrushed version of reality they choose to project. When the government demonises the media as the ‘enemy’, it creates a buffer against the public being informed of inconvenient truths and against poor governance or corruption being exposed.
Unfortunately, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s diatribes against the press have become increasingly frequent and hostile. On Saturday, during a chat with journalists, he claimed he had endured “media attacks” over the past two years, singling out the Dawn and Jang media houses as having, in his words, published “false stories” against him and his government.
In the same breath, he rightly described the media as “an important pillar of democracy” — which makes his discrediting of the press all the more ironic. Presumably, in the prime minister’s eyes, only a media uncritical of his government’s performance is a pillar of democracy; only a media that fawns over him, as it did during his long dharna in 2014, is tolerable. Now in the ‘hot seat’ himself as the country’s chief executive, Mr Khan — his well-documented aversion to criticism on full display — has even advised the people to refrain from watching TV talk shows and reading newspapers.
Democratic dispensations do not have the luxury of a victim narrative; they must defend their performance before the public on the basis of facts. However, Mr Khan demonstrates a woeful lack of understanding of the media’s function as a conduit of information — whether favourable or otherwise to the government of the day — and, if it acquits itself well, as a watchdog for the public interest.
Certainly, it is possible that inaccuracies may have crept into some coverage, and a few newspaper columns may not have been to the government’s liking. But to accuse the media of having some ‘agenda’ against it is ridiculous and smacks of rising frustration in PTI ranks. The government should not hide behind wild accusations, such as those by Mr Khan’s media aide that 20 “baseless news” had appeared in Dawn and Jang in the recent past.
Which stories were these? The publications concerned have a right to know and defend themselves.
The state’s desire to bring the media to heel is most clearly manifested in its arbitrary, unacceptable and illegal strategy since last December of denying government ads — as have done some previous administrations — to certain outlets that refuse to be dictated to. While the approach is being tacitly applied at the federal level, and KP and Punjab too have resorted to unannounced bans, there is no doubt the orders have come from the very top. The prime minister must rethink his short-sighted approach, immediately lift the ban and engage with media leaders. Power is ephemeral, and Mr Khan should consider that one day he may once again need a free press.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2020
Pakistan's draconian rules on social media take activists by surprise
“The Rules are a blatant violation of Article 19 of the Constitution.’’
Posted 17 February 2020
On January 28, the Pakistan federal cabinet approved the “Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020,” without consulting other stakeholders or informing the public as The News International, an English-language daily, reported on February 12, 2020. The rules and regulations have been inserted in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.
These set of rules will regulate all social media activities online and the social media companies would be obliged to disclose any information or data to investigation agencies when requested by the authorities. They would also be required to remove content deemed unlawful by the authorities. If platforms fail to comply with the rules, they risk being blocked and fined. It is not clear when the new rules will go into effect.
This took Pakistani activists by surprise:
#Pakistan Approves Broad New Restrictions Over #SocialMedia would dramatically change the way companies such as @Facebook and @Twitter operate in the country #censorship https://t.co/NWvhu9efB5
— Farahnaz Ispahani (@fispahani) February 13, 2020
What's in the rules?
According to Secretary Ministry of Information Technology Shoaib Siddiqui, the new rules require “social media companies and platforms like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Dailymotion, Twitter and others to open offices in Pakistan and register in the country within three months.” These platforms will have to remove any “unlawful content’’ pointed out to them in writing or in an electronically signed email within 24 hours, and in emergency cases within six hours.
According to the rules, social media means “any social media application or service or communication channel dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content, sub-content sharing and collaboration’’ and a social media company refers to “an entity that owns or runs or manages those online Systems.’’ According to the rules, such companies “shall take due cognizance of the religious, cultural, ethnic and national security sensitivities of Pakistan.’’
A National Coordinator will be appointed by the Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication “who will be assisted by a committee comprising of stakeholders (the rules did not specify these stakeholders) as notified by the aforesaid Minister.’’ According to the rules, the Coordinator's functions will also include writing instruction in relation to the regulation of social media:
advis[ing] the Federal or Provincial Governments, and issu[ing] instructions to departments, authorities and agencies, in accordance with requirements of National Security in relation to management or regulation or functioning of social media companies. The departments, authorities or agencies shall act in compliance with the said instructions. Such instructions may include actions related to blocking of unlawful online content, acquisition of data or information from social media companies, and other such matters;
According to rule 6, “social media companies shall provide to the Investigation Agency designated or established under section 29 of the Act subscriber information about the subscriber, traffic data, content data and any other information or data.’’
Rule 7 mentions that “in case a social media company fails to abide by the provision of these Rules, the National Coordinator may issue instructions for shutting down the respective service or blocking of the entire Online System and levy a fine up to 500 million Pakistan Rupees (3.24 million US dollars).’’
“Draconian’’ rules
All major digital rights activists and many social media users in Pakistan have rejected this step and condemned it saying that this is a new attack on freedom of expression, privacy, and digital rights of Pakistanis. The rules were passed secretly in the cabinet and parliamentarians will not be debating it.
Local human rights organization Bytes for All (B4A) expressed its concerns:
Bytes for All has serious reservations over the Citizens Protection Against Online Harm rules. We believe they aim at granting access to State to personal data of citizens and curb their speech. Moreover, it will have serious implications on internet based businesses in country
— Bytes for All, PK (@bytesforall) February 14, 2020
Digital Rights activist Nighat Dad mentioned that the brand new regulations will give the government dangerous powers to control social media. According to her the definition of extremism, faith or tradition mentioned in the rules can be misinterpreted to name any on-line content material unlawful or extremist or anti-state. Section 2(d) of the rule states:
“Extremism” means the violent, vocal or active opposition to fundamental values of the state of Pakistan including the security, integrity or defence of Pakistan, public order, decency or morality, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
Media Matters for Democracy stated:
The scope and scale of action defined in the rules appear to go way beyond the mandate given under the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 (XVII of 1996) and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (XL of 2016). We remind the government that anybody creating Rules under a law has to treat them as subordinate legislation and thus, the prescribed Rules cannot exceed the power of the parent Acts, i.e. the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 (XVII of 1996) and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (XL of 2016).
While Digital Rights Foundation said:
The Rules are a blatant violation of Article 19 (freedom of speech and information) of the Constitution.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is concerned that the rules will enable the designated authorities to control freedom of expression and opinion in the guise of protecting “religious, cultural, ethnic and national security sensitivities.’’
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq of opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) tweeted saying:
Parliamentary oversight allows both NA & @SenatePakistan to review rules & regulations; an important component of delegated legislation.
Also, any draconian/repressive rule that stifles freedom of speech, Article 19, falls under the purview of Human Rights committee https://t.co/sHJPyBFOWN
— Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq (@AyeshaRaza13) February 13, 2020
Journalist Talat Hussain made angry comments:
#Pakistan is being thrown behind the iron curtain of one of the most draconian #socialmedia #censorships of modern times. A new authority & legal framework put in place will choke & shut down posts on fb, youtube, twitter reducing the country to a Burma or #3rdReich. Heil! Heil! pic.twitter.com/iMvMXvzH45
— Syed Talat Hussain (@TalatHussain12) February 12, 2020
The Asia Internet Coalition, an industry association comprising leading internet and technology companies including, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google, also expressed its concerns:
The Asia Internet Coalition submitted its initial response to Pakistan’s Citizens Protection Rules (Against Online Harm). In the submission, AIC expressed sincere concern tht unless revoked, these rules will severely cripple growth of Pak’s digital economy https://t.co/lAJn5vxxjS
— Taha Siddiqui (@TahaSSiddiqui) February 16, 2020
Google, Facebook, Apple & others:
“As no other country has announced such a sweeping set of rules, Pakistan risks becoming a global outlier needlessly isolating and depriving Pakistani users and businesses of the growth potential of the internet economy”https://t.co/e7seEXjzzr
— Fahad Desmukh (@desmukh) February 16, 2020
Despite the outcry, the Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry defended the government’s decision mentioning that it was enacted to regulate social media to tackle harmful content and fake accounts.
This is not the first time that social media and its users in Pakistan have been under fire by the government. Recently Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) drafted a policy proposing to license and regulate Over the Top (OTT) Services and Web TV and asked for public feedback, sparking a public outcry.
Written byR Umaima Ahmed
Pakistan government's new social media rules draw criticism
Digital-rights activists say the new rules will give the authorities unflinching powers to stifle social media.
14 Feb 2020
When required, the companies will be required to provide subscriber information, traffic data, content data and any other information or data that is sought, the regulations stipulate [Johanna Geron/Reuters]
Pakistan's government has approved new rules for regulating cyberspace which opponents say could be used to stifle dissent and free speech.
Under regulations that were approved by the cabinet late last month but were not immediately made public, social media companies will be obliged to help law enforcement agencies access data and to remove online content deemed unlawful.
Companies that do not comply with the rules risk being blocked online, according to a copy of the regulations seen by Reuters news agency.
The approval of the new rules follows accusations by opposition parties that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government has sought to intimidate and silence its opponents and allegations of media censorship. Pakistan's military has also faced accusations of cracking down on media and free speech.
INSIDE STORY I Should social media be regulated? (25:00)
But Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, the top official at the Ministry of Information Technology that wrote the regulations, said the new rules would help "identify and weed out unwanted and slanderous online content."
"We needed to do it to uphold the integrity, decency and respect of individuals and sanctity of institutions," he said.
The new rules on social media are described by the authors as intended to prevent live streaming of online content relating to "terrorism, extremism, hate speech, defamation, fake news, incitement to violence and national security."
Social media companies will be obliged within 24 hours to respond to a request to remove "unlawful" material or six hours in emergency cases. They will have three months to register with authorities in Pakistan and must have a physical presence in Pakistan.
When demanded, the companies will be required to provide subscriber information, traffic data, content data and any other information or data that is sought, the regulations stipulate.
The rules also state that interpretations of the regulations by the authorities in Pakistan "shall take precedence over any community standards or rules or community guidelines or policies or any other instruments devised by a social media company."
'Overreach'
Nighat Dad, who runs the not-for-profit Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan says the new rules will give the authorities unflinching powers to stifle social media.
"The worrying part for me is that the definition around extremism, religion or culture is so wide and ambiguous and that means they have these unfettered power to call any online content illegal or extremist or anti-state," she told Reuters.
Dad told Al Jazeera that the social media policy proposed by the government would likely mean that women, ethnic and religious minorities were going to be the most vulnerable under the new rules.
Farieha Aziz, the founder of Bolo Bhi a digital rights advocacy group, also voiced concern.
"This is the kind of overreach we were worried about," she said. "They're trying to go beyond the ambit of the law, trying to go above and beyond what the law allows them to do."
Pakistani lawyer and an advocate of the Supreme Court Anees Jillani told Al Jazeera the policy was an "infringiment on freedom of speech".
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Pakistan Puts Press Freedom At The Core Of Struggle For New World Order – Analysis
February 18, 2020 By James M. Dorsey
Sweeping new regulations restricting social media in Pakistan put freedom of expression and the media at the heart of the struggle to counter both civilizationalist and authoritarian aspects of an emerging new world order.
The regulations, adopted without public debate, position US social media companies like Facebook and Twitter at the forefront of the struggle and raise the spectre of China’s walled off Internet with its own state-controlled social media platforms becoming the model for a host of illiberals, authoritarians and autocrats.
The regulations, that take effect immediately, embrace aspects of a civilizational state that defines its legal reach, if not its borders, in terms of a civilization rather than a nation state with clearly outlined, internationally recognized borders that determine the reach of its law and that is defined by its population and language.
The regulations could force social media companies to globally suppress criticism of the more onerous aspects of Pakistani law, including constitutionally enshrined discrimination of some minorities like Ahmadis, a sect widely viewed as heretic by mainstream Islam, and imposition of a mandatory death sentence for blasphemy.
The new rules force social media companies to “remove, suspend or disable access” to content posted in Pakistan or by Pakistani nationals abroad that the government deems as failing to “take due cognizance of the religious, cultural, ethnic and national security sensitivities of Pakistan.” The government can also demand removal of encryption.
Social media companies are required to establish offices in Pakistan in the next three months and install data servers by February 2021.
The government justified the rules with the need to combat hate speech, blasphemy, alleged fake news and online harassment of women.
The Asia Internet Coalition, a technology and internet industry association that includes Facebook and Twitter, warned that the regulations “jeopardize the personal safety and privacy of citizens and undermine free expression” and would be “detrimental to Pakistan’s ambitions for a digital economy.”
The introduction of the regulations reflects frustration in government as well as Pakistan’s powerful military with social media companies’ frequent refusal to honour requests to take down content. Pakistan ranked among the top countries requesting Facebook and Twitter to remove postings.
On the assumption that Facebook, Twitter and others, which are already banned in China, will risk being debarred in Pakistan by refusing to comply with the new regulations, Pakistan could become a prime country that adopts not only aspects of China’s 21st century, Orwellian surveillance state but also its tightly controlled media.
The basis for potential Pakistani adoption of the Chinese system was created in 2017 in plans for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a US$60 billion plus crown jewel of the Belt and Road, an infrastructure, telecommunications and energy-driven initiative to tie Eurasia to China.
The 2017 plan identifies as risks to CPEC “Pakistani politics, such as competing parties, religion, tribes, terrorists, and Western intervention” as well as security. The plan appears to question the vibrancy of a system in which competition between parties and interest groups is the name of the game.
It envisions a full system of monitoring and surveillance to ensure law and order in Pakistani cities. The system would involve deployment of explosive detectors and scanners to “cover major roads, case-prone areas and crowded places…in urban areas to conduct real-time monitoring and 24-hour video recording.”
A national fibre optic backbone would be built for internet traffic as well as the terrestrial distribution of broadcast media that would cooperate with their Chinese counterparts in the “dissemination of Chinese culture.” The plan described the backbone as a “cultural transmission carrier” that would serve to “further enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples and the traditional friendship between the two countries.”
Critics in China and elsewhere assert that repression of freedom of expression contributed to China’s delayed response to the Coronavirus. China rejects the criticism with President Xi Jingping calling for even greater control.
Pakistan’s newly promulgated regulations echo Mr. Xi’s assertion during the Communist party’s January 7 Politburo Standing Committee meeting that “we must strengthen public opinion tracking and judgment, take the initiative to voice, provide positive guidance, strengthen integration, communication and interaction, so that positive energy will always fill the Internet space… We must control the overall public opinion and strive to create a good public opinion environment. It is necessary to strengthen the management and control of online media.”.
James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.
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