Influencers, Surveillance, and Political Discourse: Mapping Digital Control in Pakistan Dr. Qayyum Khan

• Dr. Qayyum Khan

  Author

This paper critically analyses how digital surveillance by the state has affected political expression by the influencers and public figures in Pakistan. As social media continues to be used more as a means of political communication, state surveillance, encompassed by laws of cybercrime, data monitoring, and algorithm policing, has emerged as an effective instrument of controlling the discourse on the internet. The study emphasizes the way surveillance culture creates a culture of fear, which results in acts of self-censorship, a limited space of political discourse, and the loss of digital civic spaces. The influencers and personalities who are central in mobilizing the masses are usually pressured by law, harassed, or even jeopardize their reputation which only worsens open participation in politics. In the research, it is claimed that this monitoring would interfere with democratic participation, negatively affect freedom of expression, and deteriorate the value of social media as a field of political plurality. It arrives at the conclusion that although there is need to regulate the digital space, the provision of protection to provide transparency, legal accountability and protection of the digital rights are central to the sustenance of a healthy political space in Pakistan.

Keywords: Digital Surveillance, Political Expression, Social Media Influencers, Online Political Discourse, Pakistan, State Monitoring, Freedom of Expression, Digital Rights

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