The National Assembly on Thursday passed a controversial amendment bill to the country’s cybercrime laws amid protests by the opposition and walkouts by journalists.
The latest draft of changes to cybercrime laws, as seen by Dawn.com And titled as “Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill 2025” was presented in the National Assembly by Prime Minister Nazir Tarar a day ago and sent to the Standing Committee.
After the approval of the bill by Federal Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, journalists walked out from the press gallery today in protest.
Opposition lawmakers have already walked out of the House proceedings after protesting the detention of PTI founder Imran Khan and not allowing the proceedings of the House to proceed.
Bill, a copy of which is available herewith. Dawn.comPeca proposes a new provision, Section 26(A), to punish perpetrators of “fake news” online, which states: “A person who knowingly disseminates, publicly displays, or transmits through any information system any information which he knows or has reason to believe to be false or fraudulent and to the general public or Creates or is likely to create fear, panic or unrest or unrest in the community.Imprisonment may be imposed. Extension for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to Rs.20 lakhs or with both“
It also proposes the establishment of a Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority which will carry out social media related functions such as education, awareness, training, regulation, registration, blocking and more.
It said that “anyone aggrieved by false and misleading information” would be able to approach the authority to remove the relevant content or block access to it, adding that the authority should issue orders within 24 hours of the request. will
The changes suggest that the authority may require registration with any social media platform in any manner, in such form and on payment of such fee as may be prescribed.
It further states that in addition to the requirements of the Act, additional conditions or requirements as may be deemed appropriate may be prescribed during listing of social media platforms.
The bill states that the authority will have the power to issue directions to social media platforms to remove or block online content if it is against the ideology of Pakistan etc. Incite the public to violate the law, to take the law into their own hands with the aim of coercing, intimidating or terrorizing the public, individuals, groups, communities, government officials and institutions; incites the public or a section of the public to damage public or private property; Coerced or intimidated the public or a section of the public and thereby prevented them from carrying on their lawful trade and disrupted civil life; inciting hatred and insult on religious, sectarian or ethnic grounds to incite violence or create internal disturbances; contain any obscene or obscene material in violation of any applicable law; was known to be forged or false or there were sufficient reasons to believe that it could be forged or false beyond a reasonable doubt; contains allegations against any person including members of the judiciary, armed forces, parliament or provincial assembly; or promoted and encouraged terrorism and other forms of violence against the State or its institutions;
The bill also proposes that any part of the parliamentary proceedings or provincial assemblies ordered to be prorogued shall not be made available for viewing on social media platforms in any way and the proceedings Every effort will be made to issue a fair account.
“Statements of proscribed organizations or their representatives or their members shall not be streamed or made available for viewing on social media platforms in any manner,” the changes suggest.
The social media platform will maintain an effective and transparent mechanism to deal with complaints about illegal or offensive online content, he added, adding that it will not allow users to find illegal or offensive content. Provide an easily identifiable, directly accessible and permanently available mechanism for submitting complaints about online content. .
The bill also proposes setting up of a Social Media Complaints Council to receive and process complaints made by aggrieved parties against violation of any provision of the Cybercrime Act.
The changes said that in case of any violation, the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority will approach the Social Media Protection Tribunal, which will decide all cases within 90 days.
More to follow.
