Gulf News

Group to coordinate social media engagement formed

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER HOLDS FIRST MEETING OF THE NEW GROUP

- BY SANA JAMAL Correspond­ent

The main purpose of the group is to have seamless coordinati­on with all relevant ministries and stakeholde­rs and incorporat­e their input.”

The first meeting of the newly formed national social media coordinati­on working group was held in Islamabad to discuss coherent engagement with the social media companies.

The working group was recently formed by Prime Minister Imran Khan for internal coordinati­on on social media usage and policies, provide input to the Pakistan government on social media related issues and engage with internatio­nal social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter.

National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf chaired the first meeting of the coordinati­on working group. “The main purpose of the group is to have seamless coordinati­on with all relevant ministries and stakeholde­rs and incorporat­e their input,” he said. Dr Moeed emphasised on data-driven policy-making in accordance with internatio­nal best practices while keeping Pakistani sensitivit­ies in mind.

Dr Moeed Yusuf | National Security Adviser

Permanent members

The Working Group consists of the Ministry of Informatio­n and Technology as the lead ministry, Ministry of Informatio­n

and Broadcasti­ng, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Digital Media, Pakistan Telecommun­ication Authority and Digital Media Wing as permanent members while chair of NSMWG can include any other ministry, department or think tank as a coopted member as required.

Talking to Gulf News, Dr Arslan Khalid, focal person to PM on digital media, who is also the spokespers­on of the working group, said the group would serve as the core organisati­on to deal with all social media related issues and “bring all the relevant government stakeholde­rs on one platform for better result-oriented

engagement with the social media companies.”

The social media coordinati­on working group will act as a body to coordinate structured engagement with social media companies and is expected to make policy and legislativ­e recommenda­tions to encourage investment­s of social media companies in Pakistan in compliance with government policies, according to the official statement.

The next meeting will include representa­tives from the State Bank of Pakistan and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to share informatio­n about the taxation policies regarding social media companies.

Pakistan Telecommun­ication Authority (PTA) regulates online content in Pakistan. The organisati­on recently said that the regulation was becoming difficult as all popular social media platforms are based outside the country. Pakistan, a country of 220-million people with a significan­tly young and tech-savvy population, is a big social media market.

Respect the laws

“We want to see this market grow for the benefit of all but social media companies should also respect our laws,” says PTA chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa. Pakistan is creating a facilitati­ng environmen­t to encourage social media companies to set up their offices in the country, officials said.

 ?? ?? The working group was recently formed by Imran Khan for internal coordinati­on on social media usage and policies.
The working group was recently formed by Imran Khan for internal coordinati­on on social media usage and policies.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Arab Emirates