Govt rules out misuse, assures due process, debate on Peca tweaks

ISLAMABAD, JAN 23 (DNA):Amid concerns among various sections of society regarding the proposed amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (Peca), the federal government has ruled out any misuse of the law while assuring due process and debate on amending the contentious legislation.

“[This law] will not be misused [and if it is] multiple forums will be available where [the misuse] can be identified and the law can be further amended as well [if needed],” Prime Minister’s Coordinator Rana Ihsaan Afzal said while talking on media’ programme ‘MEDIA’ on Thursday.

The official’s remarks come after the federal government tabled amendments to the Peca lowering the jail term to three years from seven years for “intentionally disseminating false and fake information”.

The draft titled “Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act, 2025” includes new definitions, the establishment of regulatory and investigative bodies, and stricter penalties for disseminating “false” information.

“Whoever intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits, or transmits any information through any information system, that he knows or has reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest in general public or society shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend upto three years or with fine which may extend to Rs2 million or with both,” reads the proposed amendment to the controversial law, originally introduced by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government back in 2016.

Suggesting the establishment of the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority (SMPRA) with extensive powers to block or remove online content deemed harmful to public safety or state interests, the proposed tweaks, if passed, would allow an individual “aggrieved by fake and false information” to approach the authority for removal or blocking access to such information and the authority would issue orders no later than 24 hours on the request.

Furthermore, the authority — which is to consist of a chairperson and eight other members out of which the secretary Ministry of Interior, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairman and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman or any member of PTA — may also require any social media platform to enlist with it any manner, form and on payment of such fee as may be prescribed.

The draft also proposes to set up the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) and the Social Media Protection Tribunal.

Fine-tuning

Defending the suggested tweaks to the contentious law, PM’s Coordinator Afzal said that the issue of misuse of social media is not a political problem but in fact affects hundreds of thousands who fell victim to libel.

Stressing the need to update the relevant laws, he said that a new authority was being set up due to the issues within the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and its lack of ability to solve people’s complaints in this domain.

“There is excessive misinformation out there which violates people’s rights […] shall we allow the violation of people’s right to continue,” he questioned.

When asked about the government’s role, Afzal noted that it was the executive’s role to appoint people and run such bodies and if any severe flaws emerge then they could be duly addressed and improved.

Responding to a question concerning the seemingly hurried approach and lack of of due consultations with the stakeholders, the PM’s coordinator said that the bill was not tabled in isolation and that people were duly consulted and their input was taken prior to it.

“Consultations have been held in different phases,” he said.

Addressing the seemingly wide ambit of what might fall within the scope of “misinformation”, he assured that when the relevant authority is established, there would be further fine-tuning, it will have its own terms of reference (TORs), key performance indicators (KPIs) and everything would be classified.

“This is a broader aspect, however, when an authority is established then it would formulate its own rules and regulations,” he remarked.

Assuring that due process will be followed and the proposed tweaks will be debated, he said that the issue at hand was a larger problem but political parties view it in a narrower way.

“It’s not PTI versus PML-N [….] You have to cater to the misuse of advancement, modernisation [in social media],” he said while lamenting that artificial intelligence (AI) has exacerbated the situation.