Islamabad, Jan 23 (PTI) Pakistan's National Assembly on Thursday endorsed controversial changes to the cyber laws that could include up to three years in jail and fines of Rs 2 million for spreading fake news, amid a boycott by the opposition parties and journalists present to cover the proceedings.

The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill 2025 was tabled in the lower house a day ago by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.

The bill, also called PECA in its abbreviated form, was referred to a relevant committee, which returned it to the house and Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain presented it for voting.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers had already staged a walkout in protest against the incarceration of party founder Imran Khan. Lawmakers from the opposition Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl also opposed the bill.

Reporters present in the parliament gallery to cover the proceeding also walked out to protest the bill as they considered it an infringement on the freedom of speech. The protest was organised by the Parliamentary Reporters Association.

The bill proposes a new provision, Section 26(A), to penalise the perpetrators of online “fake news”.

“Whoever intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits, or transmits any information through any information system, that he knows or has reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest in general public or society shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend upto three years or with fine which may extend to Rs2 million (USD 7,150) or with both,” it read.

It also proposes the establishment of the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority, which would perform a range of functions related to social media such as education, awareness, training, regulation, enlistment, blocking and more.

It said that anyone “aggrieved by fake and false information” would be able to approach the authority to remove or block access to the content in question, adding that the authority would issue orders no later than 24 hours after the request.

The bill also proposes that any part of parliamentary proceedings or those of the provincial assemblies that were ordered expunged would not be streamed or made available for viewing on social media platforms in any manner, with every effort made to release a fair account of the proceedings.

They further said social media platforms would maintain an effective and transparent procedure for handling complaints about unlawful or offensive online content, adding that they would also supply users with an easily recognisable, directly accessible and permanently available procedure for submitting complaints about unlawful or offensive online content.

The bill additionally proposes the constitution of a Social Media Complaint Council to receive and process complaints made by aggrieved parties against violation of any provision of the cybercrime law.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC), a body representing journalists' groups, including the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), issued a joint statement condemning the amendment.

“The Joint Action Committee rejected any PECA amendments that are passed or approved without consultation with media bodies,” the statement read.

The JAC requested the government not to pass any amendments to the bill “without proper consultation with all stakeholders”.

Digital rights activist Farieha Aziz termed the passage an “attempt to further control access to information and limit expression under the garb of fake news”. She added that “the manner in which legislation is being bulldozed goes to show it is all a numbers game”.

The bill will become a law if passed by the Senate or the upper house in the same form as passed by the National Assembly and then signed by the president.

Separately, the National Assembly also passed ‘The Digital Nation Pakistan Bill, 2024’', moved by Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Khawaja.

The bill aims to create a digital identity for citizens to centralise social, economic and governance data and to provide for the transformation of Pakistan into a digital nation, enabling a digital society, digital economy and digital governance.

However, the PTI criticised the bill, saying that it may compromise the data of citizens. PTI SH ZH ZH