he start of the third decade of the 21^st Century witnessed a thriving social media expanding consistently and vigorously within the mediated communication space in Pakistan. This expansion of the social media space was necessitated by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government’s restrictions on the print and electronic media. Some of the restrictions had materialised already through the influence of the country’s powerful establishment and the previous governments. Some commentators, journalists and civil society activists were driven to use social media spaces because some senior journalists and anchors of mainstream media outlets, and many media workers, were rendered jobless.

A sweeping shift in social media was credited with bringing about political change in Tunisia after the Arab Spring revolution of January 2011. Tunisia witnessed a conflict between the religious and cultural platforms on social media, making the virtual media sphere an ideological battleground between the Islamists and the liberals of the country. Consequently, social media had led an enormous change.

In Pakistan, “the social media has been relatively anarchic and fragmented along various profiles, ranging from personal, trivial, cynical, aggressively nationalistic, religious, sectarian, anti-establishment and pro-establishment to anti-Indian, anti-Western and anti-liberal,” says Mohammad Waseem in his book The Political Conflict in Pakistan (2021). Resultantly, the social media has failed to come up with a rallying ground for the nation to change the political system. An important reason for this may be the establishment’s deep penetration in the social media through trolls and blogs to counter journalists and social media activists in these spaces.

There are many dimensions to the efficacy of social media in Pakistan. These include:

a) a large number of socio-political concerns of the people and corresponding cynicism over the possibility of solving such problems through agreeable solutions;

b) the lack of potential of social media to mobilise the general public and come up with collective action directed towards regime change or any systemic or policy change, and;

c) a large number of harsh rules that on the pretext of curbing hate speech, seek to suppress independence of opinion.

It is quite normal on social media to jump from one topic to another – from a topic of political significance to a humorous or satirical quip or to an anecdote about the private life of a leader or public figure. Sometimes, social media communication is used for catharsis or to unburden one from the pressures arising from personal, social, economic, ideological, institutional, political or professional life. Some social media threads are operated by serving or retired establishment personnel who operate as ‘guardians’ of the status quo and the so-called ideological frontiers of the country. Conspiracy theories are also very popular on social media.

Nearly all governments, democratic and autocratic, have introduced legislation to tighten the noose around the media and media persons to manipulate the public narrative in their favour. Article 19 of the constitution guarantees freedom of expression by stating that “every citizen has the right to freedom of expression and the press.” In 2016, under a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, the National Assembly enacted the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act to provide a wide ranging legal framework by defining various kinds of electronic crimes, outlining mechanism for investigation and charting out ways of prosecution and adjudication in relation to electronic crimes.

The Protection of Pakistan Act was passed earlier, in 2014, to provide for protection against waging war, insurrection against the country and acts threatening the security of Pakistan. Another legal measure, named the Investigation for Fair Trial Act, 2013, was enacted apparently for investigation and collection of evidence by means of modern techniques and devices to prevent and effectively deal with scheduled offences and to regulate the power of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Media persons pointed out that the agencies already enjoyed enormous powers to investigate. There was a widespread fear of stifling censorship, violation of privacy and surveillance by intelligence agencies.

In 2020, the PECA was expanded to impose curbs upon and ban platforms such as Facebook, Twitter (now X), and YouTube due to their potential to provide platforms for online criticism of the government. The new regulations required social media companies to establish local offices; gave the government powers to fine these up to $3.14 million; and the authority to block online platforms. Facebook, Twitter (X), Google and some other companies then warned the government that they would withdraw from Pakistan.

These companies also rejected the regulations called Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules. One of the companies warned in unequivocal terms that the government was not allowed to impose a blanket-ban. The Asia Internet Coalition expressed its concern at what it considered a grave violation of freedom of expression. The law was also criticised on constitutional grounds because it was an executive order rather than a legislative measure. Under the PTI government a large number of journalists were arrested and prosecuted.

In 2021, the PTI government decided to establish the Pakistan Media Development Authority and empower itself to issue policy directives to the PMDA; cancel the declaration of media outlets; determine their circulation and ratings etc; investigate and adjudicate complaints against the media; and to confiscate equipment and make arrests. Instantly responding to it, four leading media bodies – the APNS, the CPNE, the PDA and the PFUJ – rejected the draconian propositions.

The writer heads the History Department at University of Sargodha. He has worked as a research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com His X handle: @AbrarZahoor1