Pakistan Senate votes to ban fake news on social media

Pakistan Senate votes to ban fake news on social  media

Pakistan's Senate has voted to criminalize  the "willful" spread of  false information, with  prison sentences of up to three years. Journalists and opposition figures  say the law could be used to  suppress dissent.
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Pakistan's parliament building in  Islamabad
Pakistan's upper house of parliament  votes to tighten controls on fake news Image: Aamir
Pakistan's upper house of parliament on Tuesday approved a bill  that would criminalize the spread of  false information online.
The bill  had already  been approved by the National Assembly last  week.
What do we know about the  bill? The law would target anyone who  "intentionally disseminates" information  that they have  "reason to believe  is false or  falsified and  is likely to cause or create fear,  panic, disorder or  disorder."
It would allow authorities to  jail social media users for up to three years for spreading  misinformation and  provide for fines of up to 2 million rupees ($7,121,  6,822 euros).
The legislation would also create an agency with the power to immediately block content deemed  "illegal and  offensive" on social  media.
Pakistan's media regulator blocked Wikipedia in 2023  for "blasphemous content," but the ban was lifted  a few days later at the request of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
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Journalists  boycott controversial vote
The  passage of the bill was accompanied by a  strike by journalists  in the  Senate press  gallery.
Asif Bashir Chaudhry, a member of the Pakistan  Federation of Journalists, told AFP news agency that journalists felt betrayed by the  government. "We really wanted a law against  disinformation, but if  it is not  implemented through open  debate, but rather through fear and coercion, we will challenge it on every available platform," he  said.
Members of the center-left Pashtun Awami National Party (ANP), which is part of the ruling  coalition in the Senate, also walked out of the  polling station on Tuesday, Pakistani media  reported.
Pakistani PTI senator Shibli Faraz at  a press  conference Pakistani PTI senator Shibli Faraz at  a press conference
Opposition lawmaker Shibli Faraz condemned the bill as  "undemocratic."
Shibli Faraz, who is the leader of the opposition in the Senate and a member of  the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran  Khan, argued that the bill  was rushed through and without consulting  stakeholders.
He was  quoted by the AFP news agency as saying  that the bill was "highly undemocratic" and would lead to the targeting of PTI party  activists.
Pakistani authorities  have imposed  several internet shutdowns amid protests  by PTI supporters, who have  called for Khan's release and  say his  corruption conviction  was politically motivated.

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