Journalists and human right activists in Pakistan are protesting the introduction of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2025 and calling it a “black” law that curbs media freedom.
The law has also raised eyebrows among human rights organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who have expressed concerns over journalists’ safety and freedom of speech in the country.
The law, enacted on January 29, is an amendment to the existing and controversial PECA, 2016.
It has been challenged in the country’s Supreme Court on the grounds that it could enable censorship by the government. Petitioners are also mounting challenges against PECA in Pakistan’s high courts. One of these, involving the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of Imran Khan, is pending before the Lahore high court.
What is PECA?
PECA was originally passed by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) government in August 2016. Even back then, it had sparked a media outcry and was labelled as a move to silence critics of the government.
The country’s president Asif Ali Zardari signed the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill 2025, which will set up four new authorities that will regulate offensive and unlawful content online.
The amendment also broadens the definition of ‘complainant’ to anyone who believes a crime is committed.
It makes spreading information that is ‘believed to be fake’ a cognisable offence – where the cops will not need a warrant to arrest accused persons – and anyone found guilty of it could be sentenced to prison for up to three years, Dawn reported.
One of the four new authorities provided for by PECA is the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority (SMPRA), which is to regulate unlawful content on social media and hear complaints regarding PECA violations among other things.
Its members are to be appointed by the federal government and the body will be bound by law to follow the government’s requests to block content.
Appeals against the SMPRA’s decisions may be placed before the Social Media Protection Tribunal – another of the four authorities under the PECA – and decisions handed out by this tribunal in turn can be challenged only in the Supreme Court, which lawyers and journalists have noted would force petitioners onto a less accessible route for legal challenges and would diminish judicial oversight.
Human Rights Watch noted that the amendment does not clarify what “fake or false” news is and uses vague and overbroad language.
Iqra Hussain, news editor of a website based in Islamabad, said the broad powers given to regulatory authorities through PECA, 2025 may create opportunities for misuse and silence criticism, investigative journalism or opposing views.
“If a journalist highlights a security failure after an incident, will it be seen as stirring public emotions against national security?” Hussain asked.
Journalists across the country have protested the law since January 29 and observed ‘Black Day’ earlier this month by wearing black armbands.
Journalists in Islamabad protest against the Draconian PECA legislation. #PECAACt pic.twitter.com/ZQP0OhwGwY
— Anas Mallick (@AnasMallick) January 31, 2025
What have the government and journalists said?
The government maintains that the law is aimed to curb the misuse of social media and asked all media bodies to support it.
Ataullah Tarar, Pakistan’s information and broadcasting minister, defended the law saying that unlike print and electronic media, digital platforms do not have regulations or editorial checks in place to filter content.
He also said that digital media has provided space for child pornography, deepfake videos and the harassment of women.
Tarar said that people who did not have a journalism degree or report from the field for a day can turn on their cameras and say anything to harm the country. “Where have you got this content from? … Do you have skills? Or have a PhD from a university?”
An example of social media content that could come under threat from the new PECA is videos made by self-exiled journalist Imran Riaz Khan, who has over 5.6 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and is seen as a critic of the current PML-N government.
Asma Shirazi, a prominent journalist of the country, said, “As a journalist, I’m worried that these amendments will further restrict our ability to report freely and hold those in power accountable.”
She also raised concerns over the hastiness with which the Bill was passed and said that “such significant changes to laws regulating online speech and media should be thoroughly debated, consulted upon and scrutinised”.
“Everyone knows that the real purpose of this law is to silence those who do political and journalistic criticism of the government,” said news anchor Hamid Mir on his television show in Geo News.
Mir pointed out that the ruling party led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that has passed the new amendment was against similar amendments proposed by the then-PTI government when it (the PML-N) was in the opposition in 2022.
Leader of opposition Shibli Faraz from Imran Khan’s PTI said that the law will strengthen the government’s ability to politically victimise its opponents and that anyone can be arrested under it.
He reiterated that journalists were protesting because of their profession and not for any political party.
To combat disinformation, we need a robust public information system, government transparency, media & digital literacy, and—most importantly—independent journalism.
The solution isn’t amending PECA; it’s protecting press freedom. #PecaAmendments #DigitalAuthoritarianism.
— Benazir Shah (@Benazir_Shah) January 30, 2025
Old tricks, new name?
One of the first arrests under the PECA, 2016 was of Zafarullah Achakzai, a reporter based in Quetta, for spreading “misinformation” against law enforcement agencies on social media.
Achakzai had criticised security forces in his Facebook posts.
He was later acquitted in 2019 for lack of evidence, but incidents like this threaten other journalists about what may happen to them if their reportage does not show the army in a good light.
On January 28, when the Bill was approved in the senate, the upper house of Pakistan’s parliament, president of the Awami National Party Aimal Wali Khan walked out in protest, saying the Bill smelled of “of boots and uniform”.
Reporters without Borders ranked Pakistan 152 out of 180 countries in the 2024 Press Freedom Index.
“Any journalist who crosses the red lines dictated by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) – the military’s media wing – is at risk of being the target of in-depth surveillance that can lead to abduction and detention for varying lengths of time in the state’s prisons or less official jails,” its website says about Pakistan.
Imran Ali Khan, a journalist based in Multan in Punjab province, said Pakistan has never enjoyed freedom of speech, “with invisible forces constantly undermining journalistic independence in an attempt to push their own agenda”.
Khan cited the example of Geo News’s Hamid Mir, who “dare[s] to speak the truth” and survived an assassination attempt in 2014.
Democracy in dilemma?
Khan said it is ironic that the legislation was enacted in a supposedly democratic era.
“During the PTI government, journalists were openly threatened by then-director general ISPR Major General Asim Ghafoor, who instructed them to report only ‘positively’ to maintain stability and avoid spreading chaos. Media houses were pressured to fire journalists and critical voices were systematically silenced.
“Historically, such restrictive laws have been imposed under martial law regimes, but the irony is that this legislation has been enacted during a supposedly democratic era.”
Khan lamented how the PML-N, which he said claims to be a champion of democracy, was involved in passing an “authoritarian law” like the amendment to the PECA.
“It could discourage journalists and citizens from sharing information or questioning those in power”, Iqra Hussain said.
Local journalists from tribal and remote areas who work in challenging environments in the country can also become isolated, she added.
Social media is the primary source of news in the tribal and remote areas of Pakistan, such as Balochistan, which barely get mainstream media coverage.
“How can local journalists provide news from reliable sources if they fear government punishment? This fear could lead to incidents going unreported. How will we know what is happening in tribal areas if journalists are silenced?” she asked.
Sumaiya Ali is an independent journalist based in India. She reports on human and minority rights in South Asia. Ali has previous work experience in media research, specifically in Pakistan.
