Fear, outrage in Pakistan against new ‘draconian’ social media rules

The rules, framed under a 2016 law, also allow the PTA to force social media companies and Internet service providers to remove any material deemed blasphemous or derogatory to the state, its institutions and officials. — Pixabay

Pakistan has enforced rules tightening control of social media, which could allow authorities to access users’ data, in a move activists denounced as a “draconian breach of privacy”.

A set of rules that came into force last week requires technology giants like Facebook and Twitter to open offices in Pakistan and store around 50 million users’ data on local servers, which authorities could then access anytime, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Friday.