Pakistan among worst countries for internet freedom: report – Pakistan

KARACHI: Freedom House has declared Pakistan "Not Free" in terms of Internet use for the ninth consecutive year, and the country score declined from 27 to 26 out of 100 in 2019.

The international watchdog on Tuesday released its Freedom on the Net (FoTN) report for the year 2019, entitled "The crisis of social networks", which records a general decline in global Internet freedom between June 2018 and May 2019 .

He noted that governments around the world increasingly used social networks to manipulate elections and monitor their citizens, leaning technology towards digital authoritarianism.

The report placed Pakistan at 26, out of 100 (0 being the worst), a place below last year's ranking. The country obtained 5 of 25 for access obstacles, 14 of 35 for content limits and 7 of 40 for violation of the user rights index.

Globally, Pakistan is among the 10 worst countries in terms of freedom of the internet and digital media. In terms of regional classification, Pakistan emerged as the third worst country after Vietnam and China.

In addition to the decline in internet freedom, the report found manipulation of elections in Pakistan through informative tactics such as the coordinated use of commentators, bots or hyper-partisan news sites to spread false or misleading content, as well as technical tactics, including intentional restrictions about connectivity and website blocking.

The report for Pakistan was written by the Digital Rights Foundation. DRF Executive Director Nighat Dad said: “This year's score is the culmination of regressive and short-term policies by successive governments. Years of draconian legislation and investment in structures that hinder freedom of expression have led to an environment in which the Internet in Pakistan is more insecure and less inclusive. ”

Obstacles to access

Internet penetration registered only marginal increases during the reporting period. There are 67 million broadband connections in Pakistan, an increase of 10 million since the last report. However, he added that government initiatives to provide access to remote areas had progressed in recent years.

The report noted that authorities frequently interrupt telecommunications services during protests, elections and religious and national holidays, often citing security concerns. During the 2018 general elections, mobile Internet services were significantly suspended in parts of Balochistan and in all the former tribal areas administered by the federal government (Fata) during the electoral period and in the previous period.

Content Limits

The report noted that the authorities had increased their efforts to silence journalists and critical activists using a variety of techniques. Users were sentenced to death on charges of publishing blasphemous content online, although their sentences were under appeal.

More than 800,000 websites that host political, religious and social content remain blocked, while the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority continued to restrict the content in a non-transparent and arbitrary manner, according to the report.

He added that it was known that the state and other actors exert extra-legal pressure on publishers and content producers to remove the content, and these instances were often not reported.

He noted that the majority of online commentators exercised a certain degree of self-censorship when writing on topics such as religion, profanity, civil-military relations, separatist movements and the rights of women and other minority communities.

Increasingly, the report found that coordinated and unreliable accounts manipulated online content and disseminated misinformation. Journalists and online activists, especially those who scrutinize military or intelligence agencies, have testified to the existence of state-sponsored "troll armies" that are being used to silence dissent.

Violations of user rights.

Government surveillance and social media monitoring were a key concern during the coverage period, as was the continuing lack of a data protection law. The report says that users continued to face intimidation, blackmail and sometimes violence, in response to their online activity.

Of the 15 Asian countries evaluated by this report, 13 have social network surveillance programs in development or in use. The report noted that in February this year, the Pakistani government increased monitoring of social networks, announcing a new system to attack extremism, hate speech and anti-national content.

Global decline

Since June of last year, 33 of the 65 countries evaluated in FoTN experienced a deterioration in internet freedom.

"Many governments are discovering that on social media, propaganda works better than censorship," said Mike Abramowitz, president of Freedom House.

He also noted that political leaders employed individuals to surreptitiously form online opinions and harass opponents in 38 of the 65 countries covered in the report, registering another new record. Misinformation was the most used tactic.

Posted in Dawn, November 6, 2019