Federal Cabinet Approves Law for Regulating Social Media in the Country

As being reported, the Federal cabinet has given approval to the new law in a bid to regulate social media in the country.

According to the news source, the federal cabinet on Wednesday has made it compulsory for social media companies and platforms to get registered in Pakistan and open offices in the country.

As per Geo News report, Shoaib Siddiqui, Secretary Ministry of Information Technology, has confirmed that the cabinet has approved the legal document that required social media companies and platforms including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Dailymotion, Twitter, and others are now required to open their offices in Pakistan and register in the country.

Reportedly, senior officials in the Ministry of Information has confirmed that the cabinet has given the green light to the legal document.

The new law comprises of the rules and regulations which have been included in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

Furthermore, the rules and regulations no longer require to be presented in parliament for approval.

The newly approved law compels all global social media platforms and companies to register in Pakistan within three months and to open offices in Islamabad within three the same timeframe.

Furthermore, the new law requires companies and platforms providing social media services to appoint a representative in Pakistan who will deal with a National Coordination Authority. The authority will be responsible for regulating social media companies.

As per details, the new law also requires social media companies to make data servers in Pakistan within one year.

It has been made compulsory for social media companies to provide data of accounts found guilty of targeting state institutions, spreading fake news and hate speech, causing harassment, issuing statements that harm national security or uploading blasphemous content, to intelligence and law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

With the newly approved law, authorities will be able to take action against Pakistanis if found guilty of targeting state institutions within Pakistan and abroad on social media.

Adding more to it, the law will also help LEAs get access to data of certain accounts found involved in suspicious activities.