ISLAMABAD – Facebook and Twitter may stop working in Pakistan soon, mediareport had revealed.
A coalition comprising digital media giants Facebook, Google and Twitter(among others) have spoken out against the new regulations approved by thePakistani government for social media, threatening to suspend services inthe country if the rules were not revised, it was reported.
In a letter to Prime Minster Imran Khan earlier this month, the AsiaInternet Coalition (AIC) called on his government to revise the new sets ofrules and regulations for social media, The News International reported onFriday.
“The rules as currently written would make it extremely difficult for AICMembers to make their services available to Pakistani users andbusinesses,” reads the letter, referring to the Citizens Protection Rules(Against Online Harm).
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The new set of regulations makes it compulsory for social media companiesto open offices in Islamabad, build data servers to store information andtake down content upon identification by authorities.
Failure to comply with the authorities in Pakistan will result in heavyfines and possible termination of services. It said that the regulationswere causing “international companies to re-evaluate their view of theregulatory environment in Pakistan, and their willingness to operate in thecountry”.
Referring to the rules as “vague and arbitrary in nature”, the AIC saidthat it was forcing them to go against established norms of user privacyand freedom of expression.
