Is regulating social media the right decision?

Today, Social Media has turned the world into a global village and has become an important requirement. Most of the people prefer to spend most of their time on social media. Communication throughout the world has become possible due to social media. In today’s fast-paced world where nearly every other person you meet is short on time, the importance and advantage of this feature of social media cannot be denied.

Meanwhile, the incumbent government of Pakistan has formulated a policy to regulate the social media in the country. The policy contains a set of rules which all the social media companies have to follow.

First of all, let’s take a review of social media and its pros and cons.

Social Media and its platforms

Social media refers to websites and applications which are designed as a platform for the people to share their opinions, pictures, videos and other types of content quickly and in real-time. It is an advanced form of electronic communication but now recognized as the new type of media.

Social Media contains different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat where people are allowed to share different types of content (Pictures, videos, opinion). The mentioned platforms are the most used platforms in Pakistan.

Pros and Cons of Social Media

Everything has some positive and negative effects on society, such as Social Media. Every person is linked with one or two social platforms. Whether it is Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram and so on.

Positive effects:

Social media spread Information faster than any other media as people get informed faster to any danger or misadventure. It connects people all over the world and managed to contact any old friend. People can discover any information they needed in no time and is considerable for the students for their research work and studies. People can easily communicate with anyone instantly. It is also an effective platform for the business owners to build a relationship with their customers and to promote their businesses. Last but not least people can use this platform for fun and enjoyment.

Negative effects:

Privacy has become a major issue after the wake of social media as contents like pictures and videos of people are leaked. Social Media is also a distraction to the students and a waste of time if wrongly used. It can also harm the moral values of a person through negative content. The rise of Fake news has also been an issue as unverified news is spread easily and creates panic among the people. Some reports suggest that social media is the biggest reason that leads to stress, brain disorder, and depression.

New Pakistan’s Social Media Policy

The federal government of Pakistan has approved a new policy regarding social media in which a set of rules have been formulated which social media companies have to follow.

These rules and regulations are included in Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016.

Under the new policy, the social media companies will establish registered offices in Islamabad within three months and will appoint a Pakistan-based focal person for coordination with the concerned authorities. The companies will also have to establish database servers in Pakistan within 12 months to record and store data.

The new policy further stated that the social media companies will be obliged to disclose any information or data to a designated investigation agency when sought and failure to abide of any provision will entail a fine of up to Rs 500 million.

Social media platforms will be required to remove any ‘unlawful content’ within 24 hours, and in emergency cases within six hours.

Government’s stance on new policy

Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry explained the new policy and said that the government’s step was to tackle harmful content and fake accounts.

He also denied the rumors that the government aims to put curbs on social media through regulations and said that no country tolerates outward flow of money without a framework.  

He said that advertising is more on social media as compared to other media, adding that the demand for opening social media companies in Pakistan is an economic decision.

PM’s Special Assistant on Information, Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that new social media policy is created for the protection of citizens.

She said that social media was disturbing the society through sexual abuse, pornography, child abuse, and hate speech, adding that the government will not take any steps that would harm the users’ interest.

Possible Negative Impact of Policy

A large number of youths in Pakistan are earning thorough YouTube and other websites. If government sanctions affect YouTube and other websites then it will also harm Pakistan, because the earning of social media comes to Pakistan through banks. The government will discourage the freelancers working on social media and Pakistan will lose the revenue generated through social media.

What’s Next?

Government-initiated laws are against the policies of social media companies, as these companies never shared any data of their users with any government authorities. That’s why social media companies will find difficulties to follow government’s new policies. The next thing is how the government will implement its new policies, as social media companies don’t compromise on their policies. This is the reason why YouTube was banned from Pakistan for so many years but the company did not change its policy so it would not be wrong to say that the future of social media networks in Pakistan is uncertain.