Social media rules against law, Constitution: panel
ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel on Friday said the proposed social media rules are against the Constitution as well as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (Peca) and are prepared without taking input from the relevant parliamentary committee.
The Senate Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation made this observation while reviewing the proposed Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020. The meeting was held on request of Senator Raza Rabbani, a senior PPP leader and former Senate chairman.
The Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020 – approved by the federal cabinet – requires all social media companies –Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok – to register within 3 months and establish offices in Islamabad.
The companies will have to create a data server in Pakistan within a year and block any account or prevent or remove any content “violating or affecting religious, cultural, ethnic, or national security sensitivities of Pakistan”.
The sites will also have to stop social media users “involved in spreading of fake news or defamation”.
The proposed rules have been criticized by social media right activists and some opposition groups who claim that it is an attempt to gag freedom of speech. Some petitioners have also moved the Islamabad High Court against the proposed rules.
Reviewing the rules, the Senate committee – chaired by Senator Kauda Babar – noted that the rules were sent to the cabinet without being referred to the relevant panel committee on information technology (IT).
It said the rules also contained powers which are in violation of the relevant act – Peca 2016.
Earlier, Secretary Law and Justice and Ministry of Information Technology joint secretary briefed the committee on the rules. The committee was informed that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had formulated the rules in consultation of all stakeholders.
The chairman, Kauda Babar, said the rules have some lacunas; they are also contradicting the Constitution of Pakistan and Peca 2016 and must be reviewed.
He said the rules contained powers that are not available in the act and advised to devise rules and regulation that are useful for the public. Under the rules, another regulatory authority is created in addition to the existing one, ie, PTA, he added.
Senator Rubina Khalid said the IT ministry had been repeatedly ordered that the IT committee should be taken into confidence when preparing the rules and the rules should be shared with them but the rules were sent to the cabinet by bypassing the parliamentary committee.
She said Peca appeared in 2016 but rules could not been formed in the last 4 years.
She said the IT committee asked the ministry multiple times for making the rules but the rules when formed were sent to the cabinet without consulting the IT committee.
Senator Rabbani said if a national institution was to be created then it should be formed under the act.
“The Supreme Court and a high court also stressed in their verdicts pertaining to rules that it should be formulated as per the act. A sub-committee should be formed to review the rules.”
Later, the committee ruled that a report should be prepared after reviewing the roles in the next meeting of the committee in consultation with the ministries of Law and the IT
Related link: Business Recorder
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