Pakistani Twitter’s Minority Censors: Causes and Consequences

• In Event: Law, Disinformation, and Majoritarianism in South Asia

Abstract

As social media usership continues to expand in regions like South Asia, states, like Pakistan, devise cybercrime legislation with the guise of protecting citizens on and off these digital spaces. With the promulgation of Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (‘PECA,’ 2016) and the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content Rules (‘RBUOC,’ 2021), the Pakistani state proclaims to regulate content in the name of national security. The moderation of online freedom of expression, specifically, what gets designated as “unlawful content” is in the hands of censors. Given the lower barriers of entry compared to other media forms, politically marginalized groups seeking rights-based awareness or collective action, also use these online spaces to advocate for their concerns, making these censors key to rights arbitration. Despite the universal recognition that Pakistan is amongst the worst performers when it comes to both internet freedom (Freedom House 2022) and press freedom (Reporters without Borders 2022), little attention has been paid to the modern varieties of censorship that take place in the country’s online spaces. This paper highlights and identifies four key types of censors in the Pakistani Twittersphere (2018-2022): liberal activists or journalists (self-censoring), hyper-nationalists (bullying or blocking anti-nationals), establishment agents (claiming legal authority) and Twitter employees (moderating content). In doing so, through an online ethnography and content analysis, it explores the consequences in terms of freedom of speech for ethno-nationalist rights groups like the Pashtun and Baloch, as well as supporters of the women’s rights movement, the Aurat March.

Author

• Zainab Alam, Howard University