Mobile or social media: Govt not in favour of blocking websites, says minister

ISLAMABAD: The government is not in favour of blocking any mobile or social media website, which move affects access to information, but resorts to it as a last resort to mitigate the possibility of a security threat.

This was the crux of this reporter’s discussions with senior officials of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and industry stakeholders.

Blocking websites is not the solution and while Wikipedia was recently blocked it was quickly restored as there are other means to access such websites, like Virtual Private Network (VPNs).

Responding to Business Recorder queries, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque said that he is against the closure of any website, mobile or social media, which will affect the development of the country, access to information and hamper its positive impact on the general public and business community.

“We are totally against any such measure. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has given clear instructions in this regard; that’s why a ministerial committee was established under the chairmanship of IT minister,” said the minister adding that blocking of any website means disconnecting from the digital world which would lead to both social and economic disadvantages.

The committee concluded in its last meeting that if there are serious legal obligations from any quarter to shut down any particular website or social media platform, the PTA would first consult the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication and accordingly the IT Ministry will issue final directions with relevant approval/ guidance of GoP regarding treatment of such websites or applications, Haque added.

IT minister further stated that people must also understand their responsibility not to advertise and promote any website or content that is harmful to national security, fuels religious hatred, and promotes anti-Islamic values, traditions and culture.

He further said that if social media is used in a positive and constructive way, it can bring great change in society.

“It is our constitutional, legal and ethical duty to refrain from disseminating any unverified information that is likely to disturb the peace, or spread uneasiness,” he added.

Business Recorder also sent questions to PTA about the criteria set for routine blocking of websites. The Authority responded, “PTA regulates the online content/social media in accordance with provisions of PECA 2016 and Removal and Blocking of Unlawful online Content Rules 2021. The criteria for the content which is considered by PTA for blocking is provided in PECA 2016 read with Rules 2021.”

Another question put to PTA was on the perception that blocking a website is not a solution as these websites can be accessed through other portals. PTA responded: “The Authority has been mandated under PECA 2016 and Rules 2021 to block/remove unlawful online content. In-order to fulfill its duties under the legal provisions PTA at times had to block access to websites. In the case of Wikipedia, PTA issued notice to the website in respectful compliance of court order dated 07-12-2022 passed by the Lahore High Court in Writ Petition 61473/2020 under Rule 5(7) (i) of Rules 2021. Due to non-compliance of the notice the services of Wikipedia were degraded for 48 hours and subsequently blocked. The access to website has been restored on directives of Prime Minister of Pakistan.”

Technical experts informed this correspondent that there are more than 10 million sites and it is not possible to check on each and every website and content cannot possibly be blocked page by page as servers and data are not hosted in Pakistan; however some contents are against religion specially Islam or Islamic culture, traditions and norms, and these are being allowed to be published by social media platforms and websites like Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia etc as it is not in conflict in relation to western societies.

PTA’s request to these social media giants to block such objectionable material is not binding on them and in most cases, courts or other organisations direct PTA to block access to such specific websites and the Authority then takes severe action and blocks them exhausting all other legal options.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023