The cybercrime division of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered what is being reported as its first formal case filed against a suspect specifically for “spreading fake and fabricated news online”, under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), according to Pakistan’s SamaaTV. According to the FIA, the case was registered after an anonymous source reported discovering “fake news” and “anti-state” material on the accused’s X (formerly Twitter) account, allegedly connected to late November’s PTI protest march.

The “fake news” case has been registered amid government’s wider efforts to tackle “anti-state propaganda”. Last week, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif launched a joint task force to crackdown down on fake news. Furthermore, the Minister for IT Shaza Fatima Khawaja recently underscored government plans to amend PECA to “address concerns regarding misinformation”.

In an ostensible attempt to tackle what Barrister Aqeel Malik, the legal advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, called “misinformation and negative propaganda”, the government of Pakistan plans to implement a “wholesale” change to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, the nation’s controversial cybercrime law. The “changes” would allow the government to “to block online content and access to social media” and to take legal action against people held responsible for “fake news”. The draft introduces Section 26(A), penalizing the dissemination of “fake news” with imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to one million rupees, or both. The draft also makes offences under Section 26(A) non-bailable, non-compoundable, and cognisable.

Dawn noted that one of the changes to the PECA that the government has in mind is a redefining of “social media platform”, which “has been expanded to now include tools and software used to access social media.” Should the amendments to the law be passed, this could potentially provide the government with legal grounds to ban VPNs, which a decision by the Ministry of Law and Justice shot down at the end of November.

In addition to changing the definition of “social media”, the creation of a Digital Rights Protection Authority (DRPA) was also proposed as part of the overhaul, meant to tackle issues such as “the removal of online content, prosecuting people for sharing or accessing prohibited content and action against social media platforms where such content is hosted.” The DRPA would ostensibly work to advise the government on “digital ethics and related fields”, and outline “time frames for social media companies to implement its orders and make provisions for these platforms to have offices or representatives in Pakistan.”

What that entails in practice, if indeed the amendments are made public and passed, however, remains to be seen.

The social media platform X (Formerly Twitter) continues to be blocked in Pakistan, in the wake of Pakistan’s controversial February 2024 general election. Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Pakistan’s Minister for IT who had controversially blamed VPN for internet slowdowns in August 2024 (an explanation that received scepticism across the board), dismissed concerns that blocking X was a freedom of expression issue. The minister claimed that the block is necessary for national security reasons, as “Cybersecurity is the need of the hour” in her words, and that “only” 2 percent of the population used the platform – which includes members of the Government of Pakistan, such as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The Pakistani journalist and YouTuber Shakir Mehmood Awan, who was allegedly abducted from his home by law enforcement officers on November 28, returned home on Sunday. The Lahore High Court had ordered the police to release Mr. Awan by Monday (December 2^nd), and had ordered the Inspector General of Police to appear in court, after Mr. Awan’s mother filed a habeas corpus petition. The IGP did not appear though summoned, with the Additional IGP appearing instead. The Lahore High Court also ordered that the CCTV evidence of the journalist’s abduction be recovered.

Though the VPN ban is no longer workable at this point, however, registrations of VPNs will still continue. Further to this, people in the cities of Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi reported slow and unreliable internet speeds and access, making communications and day to day operations difficult, to the point of frustration – and with businesses worried about potential financial losses.

According to the Economic Times of India, disruptions in regards to Google services, Instagram, Tiktok and other social media platforms were confirmed by the website Downdetector.

Despite a widely publicised push to people in Pakistan to register their VPNs or else face a ban and block of “unregistered” VPNs after the November 30^th deadline, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistan’s telecoms regulatory body, has backed down and withdrawn the threat. According to Dawn News, the PTA made the decision after the Ministry of Law and Justice declared that the government had “no legal standing to block VPNs.” Sources that the outlet spoke with said that,

“There was an interpretation issue with the clauses in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, and eventually, it has been noted that the reading of the interior ministry in this regard was weak, and the courts would allow the functioning of the VPNs,”

And that the clauses in question permitted the blocking of “content”, but not of applications etc used to access said content, which could lead to legal cases being taken against the government.

Pakistani journalist and YouTuber Matiullah Jan, who had allegedly been abducted by law enforcement, was released after an anti-terrorism court granted him bail in a “terrorism and narcotics case”. His abduction and the charges were condemned by Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, with the latter stating that Mr. Jan’s arrest was the result of “his coverage of protests by supporters of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan”. Though Mr. Jan had originally been thought to have been picked up whilst reporting at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Thursday (November 28), he was held on charges on terrorism and narcotics charges, which Amnesty International called “trumped up charges” to justify his “arbitrary detention.”