Objectionable and Controversial content on social media has become a challenge for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
According to a PTA document, the authority is receiving around 350 complaints related to social media content on a daily basis.
The authority entertains all such complaints that are supported by local laws or laws of social media platforms. Whenever the PTA receives a complaint about any social media content, the authority gives a chance of hearing to the complainant and defendant.
After hearing the complainant and the respondent, if the PTA comes to the conclusion that the content complaint is valid, the PTA refers the content to social media platforms for blocking. Social media companies are requested to remove the objectionable content from the respective platforms on a retrospective basis.
According to the authority, the government’s approval is needed for the blocking of applications.
PTA in the document noted that the social media companies have so far blocked 80 percent of the content sent by the PTA. Social media platforms have blocked more than 1.2 million URLs containing objectionable content on PTA’s request.
Social Media Platforms (SMP) are hosted abroad and they mostly follow their own community guidelines. Lack of understanding on the part of Social Media Platforms especially with respect to blasphemous, hate speech, sectarianism, and morality is creating problems. The Social Media Platforms don’t entertain complaints regarding defamatory content.
According to the PTA, the circulation of fake news on social media platforms is also challenging. The lack of public awareness of the responsible use of social media is also leading to an increase in such complaints.
