August 16, 2024
ISLAMABAD – THE five stages of internet governance in Pakistan seem to be as follows: curb, deny, double down, reluctantly admit, and repeat. By now, nearly every smartphone user in Pakistan has experienced interruptions to WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messaging app that has become indispensable to billions of people the world over.
According to Downdetector, a website that tracks internet disruptions, thousands of Pakistani users have reported outages and interruptions in connectivity over the past week. Most reports have been about trouble with calls and messages, including voice notes, multimedia content and downloading problems over mobile data. This means that everything, from important legal documents to the customary ‘Jashn-i-Azadi Mubarak’ messages, is getting lost in the ether as cellular providers, undoubtedly at the behest of the authorities, continue to throttle connectivity.
We know why this is happening — because of the need to clamp down on so-called digital terrorism; the state has already made its intentions quite clear with its treatment of the social media platform X. The latter served as a virtual town hall where people could debate, argue, protest and mobilise in support of various worthy causes.
This made it liable to be deemed a threat to national security. And yet, ministers and government departments continue to use X for official communications through virtual private networks. Now the authorities seem to have decided that WhatsApp has replaced X as the new staging ground for dissent and are tightening the noose, with little to no regard for the social and economic disruptions this will cause.
The authorities may have genuine concerns with the platform, including its use to share misinformation and disseminate propaganda against the state and its institutions. It is also true that some smear campaigns against important personages, including recent claims regarding two judges of the Islamabad High Court, have been fuelled by their circulation via the messaging app. However, curbs are never a solution.
As with X, those who wish to use it can always connect via a VPN. Experts say there is no real way to completely block access to a particular piece of content without disrupting the whole pipeline. One need only think about how people currently use WhatsApp: businesses share quotations, shipping invoices and pay orders with their clients; doctors are sent medical records and queries over WhatsApp, lawyers need to be kept abreast of court dates and legal documentation. These are just some examples of how irreplaceable the app has become for people from all walks of life.
While Pakistan grapples with its many economic woes, this connectivity crisis threatens to sap whatever economic potential is left in the services industry. Given our earlier failed experiments at banning YouTube and Facebook, it is about time we learned not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.