WhatsApp, Others Shifting Operations Outside Pakistan
January 9, 2025Internet Disruptions and Shutdowns In January
January 10, 2025
Our Executive Director Nighat Dad was interviewed by WIRED magazine. The feature traced her journey from escaping an abusive marriage to becoming a vocal advocate for women’s social and digital rights, and founding the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF). The feature was also covered in WIRED’s weekly wrap! Read the interview here.
Policy Initiatives:
Platforms at the Polls
DRF released a report analyzing platform accountability during Pakistan’s 2024 general elections, focusing on how social media platforms have increasingly become critical tools for political parties in order to influence and win over voters. Analyzing 225 social media posts depicting technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) and gendered disinformation against electoral candidates, activists and journalists, it became evident that platforms failed to actively remove harmful content or regulate political spending by parties. Our complete report is available here.
Campaign on 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights Day
DRF’s 16 Days of Activism campaign continued with more #StayCybersafe daily tips. Our series envisioning what Pakistan would look like free from gender-based violence also continued. The campaign finally culminated on 10 December with an online panel discussion titled ‘Achieving Gender Justice & Digital Equity in Pakistan post Beijing+30’. The panelists were National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) standing chair Ume Laila Azhar, former NCSW chair Khawar Mumtaz, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders senior programs officer Sophia Dianne Garcia, and DRF programs lead Seerat Khan. Watch the livestream recording of the event here.
Campaign on International Day for Minorities
To mark International Day for Minorities (18 December), DRF reshared its policy brief titled ‘Countering Online Misinformation Against Religious Minorities in Pakistan’. DRF called for safer, inclusive digital spaces through collective effort from state authorities, platforms and civil society. Read the brief here.
Blog post on Platform Accountability
DRF team member Sara Imran wrote a blog post analyzing the recent crackdown on data scraping by X and other platforms. The piece highlighted the impact of such restrictions on academic research that relies on publicly available data, and concluded that “blanket bans on data scraping are not a one-size-fits-all solution”. Read the blog post here.
Press Coverage:
Nighat Dad in AP News
In AP News’ piece on how deepfakes have been weaponized against Pakistan’s women leaders, DRF Executive Director pointed out that Pakistan’s laws related to online safety have also been used to block sites as “a quick solution for the government… violating other fundamental rights”. Read the article here.
DRF in Index on Censorship’s article
DRF team members Anam Baloch and Seerat Khan highlighted the impact of increasing Internet restrictions in Index on Censorship’s article on increasing censorship in Pakistan. Read the article here.
DRF in Kashmir Express News segment
DRF team member Aneeqa Shahid appeared on Kashmir Express News to explain to viewers how they can protect themselves from scammers online, particularly in light of the HEC scam which led to financial loss and stealing of WhatsApp accounts. Watch the segment here.
Nighat Dad on the Digital Nation Pakistan bill
In a Samaa TV news segment on the digitization of Pakistan via the Digital Nation Pakistan Bill, DRF Executive Director Nighat Dad weighed in and emphasized that personal data protection legislation is imperative. Watch the entire segment here.
Nighat Dad talks about Internet outages in Pakistan
DRF Executive Director Nighat Dad told Geo News how Internet disruptions not only deny access to information, but are “also economically costly and damage Pakistan’s reputation as a reliable player in the global IT industry”. Read what she recommends to improve Pakistan’s digital future in the article here.
Nighat Dad at SAMAAJ Seminar on Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
DRF Executive Director Nighat Dad contributed to a discussion on preventing child sexual abuse in Pakistan on 30 December. The event titled “Beyond Silence and Shame: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan” was organized by SAMAAJ in partnership with the German Embassy. She also spoke on the topic to VoicePK and Lahore News, underscoring the need to increase digital safeguards for children and ensure safer online spaces.
DRF was also featured in the following press coverage:
Events:
Meta Roundtable on Online Youth Safety
DRF, the Ministry of Human Rights, Meta, the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), and the National Commission on the Rights of the Child jointly hosted a roundtable on online youth safety in Islamabad, launching a comprehensive Youth Safety Policy Document with actionable recommendations for policymakers, educators, and tech platforms. DRF’s Seerat Khan shared findings from focus group discussions and surveys with parents and youth across the country. Meta showcased its safety tools. The discussion underscored the importance of collaboration to create inclusive and secure digital environments for young users.
Meeting with Rana Mashood on Collaboration with PM Youth Programme
DRF representatives met with Rana Mashood and his team to explore potential collaboration opportunities under the PM Youth Programme. Key discussions focused on expanding DRF initiatives, such as the Hamara Internet project and Digital Literacy Bootcamp, to the national level with the PM Office’s support. Both teams emphasized the importance of collective effort, particularly in addressing issues like personal data protection, digital scams, and enhancing youth-focused digital literacy. Future plans include joint awareness initiatives, sharing educational content, and participation in conferences.
Meta Community Summit 2024
DRF Program Lead Seerat Khan and Program Manager Anam Baloch participated in the Meta Community Summit 2024, a platform dedicated to fostering dialogue with civil society partners. The summit focused on social media best practices, online safety, and freedom of expression, underscoring Meta’s commitment to cultivating a safe and open online environment in Pakistan.
Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands’ “Panel Discussion Voices for Change” and UN Women Pakistan’s “Theater on Wheels”
DRF attended and participated in these events held to mark the global 16 Days of Activism campaign. UN Women Pakistan’s “Theatre on Wheels” took place in Islamabad on 10-11 December, and aimed to strengthen civil society engagement to promote gender equality vis-a-vis the Beijing+30 goals. Representing civil society, DRF team member Irum Shujah shared her learnings and experiences from attending Beijing+30. DRF also attended the panel discussion “Voices for Change: Youth Perspectives on Challenges and Opportunities” hosted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The discussion explored the challenges faced by Pakistani youth, particularly women and girls, and highlighted opportunities for their empowerment.
Other events:
- DRF Communications Manager Maheen Rasheed attended a national conference titled “Inspiring Change & Empowering Humanity” Conference: Advancing Human Rights for All”, co-organized by the Khawaja Sira Society and the National Commission for Human Rights, on 2 December.
- DRF’s Legal Associate participated in Justice Project Pakistan’s consultation in Lahore with Ms. Christine Chung (UN OHCHR) on 5 December. Participants discussed the next steps for civil society engagement after Pakistan’s ICCPR treaty body review.
- On 10-11 December, representatives from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) visited DRF to discuss the ongoing Digital Literacy and Citizenship Bootcamp programme.
- DRF conducted a session on navigating online safety in journalism at the Sahafi Summit conference, hosted by Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) in partnership with the Association of Media and Communication Academic Professionals (AMCAP), at the Beaconhouse National University on 11 December.
- On 20 December, DRF team member Anmol Sajjad delivered an engaging virtual session on online fraud with Suno FM Radio (89.4-96). Nearly 30 callers asked questions about online fraud. Listen to the session here.
- DRF held a two-day digital skills training workshop on 30-31 December in Peshawar. This workshop provided training on essential digital safety practices, addressing legal challenges, reporting online hateful content and using open-source tools.
Tech trends and tips:
New tech and platform developments:
VPN Bans (or not): A new controversial scheme was introduced to allow local companies to provide “approved”, localised VPNs after paying for a 15-year license. The rescinding of the ban has not stopped the government from seeking to criminalise VPNs and other forms of proxy software either.
Fake News: The government declared the creation of a “fake news” task force to “identify individuals/groups and organisations involved in creating and spreading fake and misleading news surrounding political miscreants in Islamabad from Nov 24-27, 2024, including entire media campaign (sic) related to the issue.”
PECA Amendments: Amendments to PECA were tabled that would create the Digital Rights Protection Authority (DRPA) for prosecuting the sharing or accessing of prohibited content. More legal cover to block devices, such as VPNs would also be given.
Digital Nation Pakistan: The Digital Nation Pakistan Bill (DNPB) calls for the centralisation of citizen data to create a unified “digital identity”. Two government authorities – the National Digital Commission, and the Pakistan Digital Authority – would be created to develop the “required policy, provide governance and ensure necessary coordination”.
Digital “Bill of Rights”: PPP co-leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called for the creation of a digital “bill of rights”, drafted and contributed towards by Pakistani youth, which he declared would be presented in the National Assembly.
Tip of the month: Secure communication channels
Many messenger or email apps may be susceptible to interception and eavesdropping. To select a secure communication channel, one should consider the following:
- Is your app open or closed source: In closed source apps, the source code is not made public, so there is no guarantee regarding its safety. In open source apps, the source code is publicly available for external security audits, which is why these apps are considered more secure. Basic versions of such apps are usually free unlike proprietary applications.
- Does your app support end-to-end encryption (E2E): E2E means that messages are encrypted from sender to receiver, and the chat(messages) cannot be overhead or tampered with. One must take into account that all conversation should be end-to-end encrypted.
DRF Resources:
Cyber Harassment Helpline:
The Cyber Harassment Helpline received 237 complaints in December 2024, of which 82% were related to cyber harassment. The helpline also celebrated 8 years since its inception this month by sharing a case where the helpline team helped take down sensitive pictures of a complainant from social media platforms. Click here to listen to the story.
If you’re encountering a problem online, you can reach out to our helpline at 0800-39393, email us at helpdesk@digitalrightsfoundation.pk or reach out to us on our social media accounts. We’re available for assistance from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Sunday.
IWF Portal
DRF in collaboration with Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Global Fund to End Violence Against Children launched a portal to combat children’s online safety in Pakistan. The new portal allows internet users in Pakistan to anonymously report child sexual abuse material in three different languages- English, Urdu, and Pashto.
StopNCII.org
Meta along with Revenge Porn Helpline (RPH) has launched a portal to support victims of Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse (NCII). NCII is a free portal for reporting cases of sensitive or sexual content existing online. Once you report a case, the necessary steps will be taken to block the images from the platform.
