Govt to launch social media crackdown against hate speech on all social platforms

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday revealed that the federal government would be launching a comprehensive crackdown on “hate speech” on social media in Pakistan.

While addressing an event in Islamabad, Fawad announced that the government had formed a working group comprising representatives of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other security agencies in this regard.

“We have developed a comprehensive mechanism to keep a check on hate speech on all social media platforms,” Fawad told while adding that although the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government had successfully controlled managed hate speech and fake news on traditional modes of media, modern media comes with its own set of challenges.

“The pace at which informal digital media is taking over the formal media makes it essential for us to regulate it. There must never be any tolerance for hate speech. We will act indiscriminately against individuals who propagate any sort of extremist views,” he added.

Explaining that the main efforts would be to uproot threats of violence, the information minister said that the move would hopefully encourage healthy debates that are not emotionally fuelled.

“We will monitor social media activity and work to eliminate fake accounts. People who violate Pakistan’s cyber laws will be prosecuted. We want to encourage discourse and debate in Pakistani society but that is not possible when you have people threatening each other’s lives over differences of opinion,” he said.

Earlier in January, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) had decried the government’s draft for the new Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PMRA) to oversee print, electronic and social media stating that one law could not encompass all media categories since each had its own issues.