The Ministry Of Information Technology And Telecommunication (MoITT) Has Amended The “Removal And Blocking Of Unlawful Online Content Rules.
The Ministry Of Information Technology And Telecommunication (MoITT) Has Amended The “Removal And Blocking Of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight And Safeguards) Rules, 2021,” stating that if a service provider or social media company fails to remove or block access to online content or to comply with the social media rules, their services will be degraded, blocked, or a penalty of up to Rs500 million will be imposed.
The Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Laws, 2021, has been posted to IT’s website as a fresh version of the contentious social media rules. This action follows many petitions filed by journalists and activists against the regulations, which were first implemented in 2020.
As stated under Article 19 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, any individual or organization has the freedom to express and distribute any online material. The authority shall not limit, disrupt, or prevent the flow or distribution of any online content unless it deems it essential for the reasons set out in Section 37(1) of the Act.
Under Section 6(2) of the new draft of the social media regulations, an entity’s time to conform with an order before the online content in issue is prohibited by PTA is increased to 48 hours from the previous 24 hours in normal circumstances. The time frame was reduced from the previously ordered 6 hours to 12 hours in the event of an emergency. There are much more in the new draft.
This news was originally published at Phone World.