Amid criticism, govt decides to review social media rules

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to review the newly formulated laws aimed at regulating social media platforms, ARY News reported.

Sources privy to the development relayed Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting to discuss the matter.

Officials from the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Law, and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), and other relevant authorities will attend the meeting which will begin shortly.

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The meeting will review response and feedback on the regulations and its impact on freedom of expression.

The premier will be briefed on the pros and cons of the newly-formulated social media regulations.

Speaking during ARY News talk show yesterdy, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had stressed the need for regulating all social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others in order to stymie its wrong usage.

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He claimed that different companies and segments of society have been peddling propaganda over the laws.

He asked critics to point out legal flaws in the regulations. However, he asserted that the laws shouldn’t be misused by the governments as a political tool to suppress criticism by its opponents.