Islamabad’s additional judge of additional sessions, AFZAL MAJOKA, suspended a local tribunal order prohibiting 27 YouTube channels managed by various Pakistani journalists and content creators on Friday.
The decision on a plea filed by the new national agency of investigation into cyber crime, the judicial magistrate of Islamabad, Muhammad Abbas Shah, had ordered the ban on the basis of alleged anti-state, defamation and disinformation content targeting legal personalities.
Asad Toor, whose story was one of those who were blocked, went to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the suspension of the prohibition.
The judicial challenge against the ban is led by lawyers, Riasat Ali Azad, Zainab Janjua, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, defends Hadiali, Jamal and Farrukh Jillani. The Farieha Aziz Digital Rights Defender is also part of the legal effort.
The NCCIA launched an investigation into the issue on June 2 with the approval of the competent authority.
The Waseem Khan sub-inspector of the NCCIA cybercrime reporting center informed the local court on June 24 that the agency investigated several YouTube channels involved in the propagation of “false, defamatory and false” content against public institutions and their civil servants.
“”[This propaganda] is likely to cause fear, panic, disorders and disorders in the general public or society with defamatory and false remarks. [This also] Violates privacy and harms the dignity of civil servants of state institutions, “said NCCIA.
Read: Judicial orders blocking 27 YouTube channels
In his ordinance, the court noted that after having examined the facts and the evidence presented by the head of the NCCIA survey, he was convinced that the channels were committing offenses under the Act respecting the prevention of electronic crimes (PECA), 2016 and criminal laws in the country.
“The chief / charge of the security / security guard service at Google LLC, D / A / B Youtube 901 Cherry Avenue, San Bruno, CA 94066 USA is therefore responsible for blocking / deleting said YouTube channel”, noted the order.
In -depth examination
The ordinance was the last in a series of Islamabad laws and regulations which allowed the authorities to repress criticism and dissidents. He has blocked social media platforms like X, Facebook and Tiktok several times in the past.
In January, Parliament introduced a new amendment to PECA to further regulate the content of the CYBER, which included a new regulatory authority for social media with its own investigation agency and its courts.
These courts will be able to try to punish the alleged delinquents with prison terms up to three years and fines of two million rupees ($ 7,200) for the dissemination of information deemed “false or false”.
Similar laws to order the deletion of the contested content have also been introduced in neighboring India, which had disagreements with X and Google on these directives. In recent years, India has banned dozens of YouTube channels citing national security.
Usama Khilji’s digital rights activist said the Pakistani court had not completed regular procedure.
“What is shocking is the total lack of legal processes,” he said.
Toor said that neither the court nor the cybercrime agency gave him a chance to respond to allegations and that he would take legal action against the court order.
“This is a dictatorial decision. It cannot be silent,” he said.
