“No social media ban to be imposed”, says Federal Minister

Syed Aminul Haq, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, said that he would not accept any move to social media ban. However, no compromise on issues of national security would be permitted. 

While chairing a meeting of the Task Force of the Prime Minister on Information Technology and Telecom, the Minister said that the revocation of the TikTok app was not a way to resolve the issue it presents, but was banned in order to put social media applications under the country’s rules and regulations. 

Syed Aminul Haq said that going in the right direction is important and we’re working hard along those lines. Misinformation and criticism toward national security agencies can not be accepted, not just on social media, but also on any media channel. 

He said the ban on any application was not the solution to any problem, but it was necessary to get social media sites into the realm of laws and regulations, a press release said. 

The Minister said that our strategies were advantageous to global investors and we were completely in favour of technological advancement. The Universal Service Fund (USF) initiatives for the provision of internet networks in our areas of the world were also addressed at the meeting and participants shared their satisfaction with the projects. 

With respect to the closing of the Jazz network headquarters, the Minister explained that the lockout by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of the office on tax matters was not a pleasant act.