The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued a warning to “unregistered” social media companies over what the authority claims is lack of cooperation in the removal of unlawful content.
The PTA’s statement, which is available with Digital Rights Monitor (DRM), specifically concerns “unlawful”, “immoral” and “blasphemous” content, but does not provide sufficient context or elucidates as to what constitutes such content online.
The telecom regulator states that unregistered social media firms are not cooperating with it in the removal of harmful content from online platforms. It has proposed action against social media firms by various state regulators, including the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
“The social media companies do not consider themselves obligated to entertain the requests for blocking [illegal and immoral content] in accordance with laws of Pakistan,” says PTA. “They encourage aggrieved users to directly report the issues to them.”
The PTA adds it conducted several meetings with leading social media companies such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok to streamline the process of content regulation according to the authority’s requirements. Additionally, the regulator has issued directives for organizations that engage with social media companies for advertising or other ventures, warning them to check the status (registration) of the companies with the PTA before going ahead with any kind of business with them.
YouTube, however, has assured “special check” on hate speech, contempt of court, and blasphemous content, according to the PTA.
According to the statement, the PTA reports unlawful online content under Section 37 (unlawful online content) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, (PECA) to social media companies, including Twitter. The authority says it submitted more than 67,000 links containing “unlawful” content to Twitter, of which over 34,000 were blocked by the tweeting platform. However, the PTA has expressed disappointment with Twitter, stating that the company’s response towards the regulator’s attempt at mutual engagement for development of effective content regulation mechanism has not been “encouraging.
The telecom regulator has approached the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) to “seek guidance and devise further course of action” on the lack of compliance in the removal of sensitive content from social media companies, especially Twitter, the statement adds.
As for registration, the telecom regulator has threatened social media companies with final notices, penalties, degradation of online services, and even blocking of the entire platform.
It is pertinent to mention that search engine giant Google became the first Big Tech corporation to register with the SECP under the Social Media Rules in December 2022. TikTok was also in talks with the government to establish a liaison office in the country.
