Digital Political Discourse in Pakistan: Legal Challenges of Online Hate Speech and Misinformation

• Sadiq Ali

  Author

The fast growth of digital space has not only reshaped political communication, but also opened opportunities through which participation in Pakistan can take place, which also present challenges. This paper will look at the nature of cyber politics and the particular issue of online hate speech and political misinformation, and assess the effectiveness of Pakistan cyber laws in its efforts to correct this problem. The social media platforms Facebook, X (Twitter), Tik Tok, and YouTube have been turned into the focal point of political mobilization, but they are also the place where unfriendly rhetoric, sectarianism, fake news, and orchestrated propaganda campaigns are propagated rapidly. This paper, built on qualitative review of the current laws (such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016) can be viewed as an analysis of the regulatory reaction of the state and how it can be complemented to address the lack of enforcement, digital literacy, and platform responsibility. This paper concludes that cyber laws are present but the best approach to curb online political harm in Pakistan is the combination of legal reform, media literacy and open-minded enforcement of the law.

Keywords: Cyber Politics, Hate Speech, Political Misinformation, Cyber Law (PECA), Digital Media Regulation

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