PM talks about rumours that govt wants to ban social media

Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, who is known for having social media as his primary source of information, has said the government will not impose a ban on any social media application.

“But at the same time, we also can’t let anyone insult or spread false information about government organisations or the people working for them,” the premier pointed out in a statement.

PM Imran also took notice of the delay in the preparation of social media regulations by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and Ministry of Information Technology.

He instructed the departments to present a report regarding it within this week.

The PTI government has been criticised for its decisions regarding monitoring and regulating content on social media. This came after the government placed a temporary ban on popular online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and issued a warning to TikTok.

The premier had in February also said that new rules were being introduced only to protect citizens and regulate social media in the country, which had come days after the PTI government led by him decided to impose restrictions in the name of citizens’ protection and national interest.

Presiding over a meeting to review the social media rules, PM Imran had said that the new rules were not prepared to curb freedom of expression or victimise political opponents. He had claimed that the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore and other countries were also introducing such laws to protect their citizens.

However, no action for the implementation of the proposed rules had followed.