LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari, while expressing concern over the difficulty of misleading content on social media in her case, has advised that if social media applications cannot be regulated, they should be shut down.
“Social media companies are profitable in Pakistan, but they have no answer to anybody. She stated this on Monday: “Social media apps ought to be shut down if they can’t be controlled.
The minister made the observation that, with the exception of Pakistan, social media was governed worldwide.
Attaullah Tarar, the Federal Information Minister, stated last week that “national security issues and not freedom of expression” were the reason behind the social media network X (previously Twitter) ban.
The interior ministry told the Sindh High Court in March—in its first open admission of an official ban on X—that the social media site had been disabled since February pending further directives regarding intelligence agency reports.
Since February 17, when then-commissioner Laiquat Chatha held a news conference denouncing alleged election rigging in favor of the ruling PML-N in the Rawalpindi division seats of the National Assembly, access to X has been restricted in various parts of the nation.
Ms. Bokhari on Monday emphasized regulating the digital platforms, even though the Punjab information minister had stated last month that if social media laws and regulations were developed, the government may think about easing the ban on X. She said that since social media was regulated globally, there was no reason why Pakistan should not implement similar regulations.
Social media operations require regulation. The minister stated, “Anytime we discuss social media regulation, the topic of free expression gets in the way.
The minister claimed despite her battle for a couple of months, she still had not obtained any respite in ‘my phony video’ matter.
Officials from the Federal Investigation Agency lament that their limited resources prevent them from interrogating the social networking apps. This demonstrates how things are with social media in Pakistan, where people are all free and above the law, the speaker remarked.
