People found guilty of hate speech on social media can face seven-year jail term
The federal cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment, in Section 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) FIA Act, imposing seven-year imprisonment for those spreading hateful content on social media.
The PML-N led government has empowered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take action against those found guilty of hate speech as per the proposed amendments of Section 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) in the FIA Act.
FIA will be able to take action against any user on social media and the user can also be sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.
In this regard, the federal cabinet has approved further amendments in the FIA Act through circulation, while the final approval of the amendments will be taken from the Parliament, after which the cyber watchdog can take action on hateful content on social media.
After the amendment, the FIA will also have the power to act on any kind of fake news and rumors on social media.
In February of this year, President Arif Alvi had approved an ordinance of a similar nature proposing amendments in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, (PECA) 2016 which proposed a five-year sentence for criticising state institutions, including the Pakistan Army, judiciary and others on electronic media.
However, in April of this year, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had declared the ordinance “unconstitutional”.
