Pakistan Social Media
Pakistan govt ready to regulate social media through ordinance
Islamabad: The Pakistani government is all set to promulgate an ordinance declaring defamation of people and institutions on social media a cognisable offence, with jail term being increased from two to five years, a move seen by experts as another attempt made to regulate social media.
The drafts of the proposed legislations, including an amendment to the Elections Act 2017 allowing members of the parliament to take part in election campaigns, had already been circulated among the federal cabinet members for approval, said Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry while talking to The Dawn on Saturday.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government had recently rolled back its plan to establish one authority to regulate all media, including social media, after facing strong resistance from almost all the stakeholders, including journalist bodies and civil society organisations, reports The Dawn.
The Imran Khan-led PTI government has made several attempts to regulate online content through legislations such as the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules-2020 and the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules-2020 since coming to power in 2018.
Talking to The Dawn, the information minister said in the proposed law related to online public defamation, it had been made mandatory for courts to decide cases within six months. Besides, he said, it was currently a bailable offence but after the proposed legislation it would become a non-bailable offence.
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