Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has decided to tighten the screw and introduced new rules for the social media companies in Pakistan.
The new set of rules also obligates the social media companies to register itself in accordance with Pakistan’s constitution within 9 months.
The ministry exercised section 51 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 to unleash the rules for removal and blocking of unlawful online content.
The MOITT also directs the companies to scrutinize the content shared on their sites. The content should not be blasphemous and causing derogatory remarks about religion. The user should not post something that may cause a dent in the defense of Pakistan. Moreover, the publication of internet pornographic content will be dealt with in the form of severe punishment.
As per the instructions, the live-streaming of any kind of violence, hate speech, pornography, and promotion of extremist groups and terrorism outfits has also been prohibited. In Pakistan, various social media platforms had already become the subject of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s jurisdiction. Recently, PTA had blocked the video-sharing app TikTok, and after negotiation, they resumed the service.