ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s efforts to counter online extremism face low compliance from social media companies, shortages of trained analysts and weak coordination, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a written parliamentary response released on Wednesday.

The assessment comes as militant groups expand their propaganda and recruitment activities. The Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies reported this month that the Pakistani Taliban intensified both during July–September, using media productions to project influence beyond its traditional strongholds.

Pakistan has expanded its powers to regulate online content through amendments to its cybercrime law. Rights organizations have warned that broadly worded provisions could also be used against journalists and government critics, highlighting the distinction between combating violent extremism and restricting legitimate expression.

“The compliance rate of social media companies remains low,” Naqvi said in his response to questions from lawmaker Syeda Shehla Raza.

The response put compliance at 23.7 percent for content-removal requests from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and 47.1 percent for requests from provincial Counter-Terrorism Departments (CTDs).

It reported platform-specific rates of 7.4 percent for X, 1.9 percent for YouTube and 38.1 percent for Facebook.

The document did not specify the reporting period, the number of requests underlying those percentages or whether all the material concerned extremist content. It also did not explain why particular requests had not been acted upon or include the companies’ responses.

Naqvi said Punjab accounted for 97.7 percent of requests submitted by CTDs, while Sindh and Balochistan recorded no compliance despite making requests.

The response also identified shortcomings within Pakistani law enforcement, including insufficient personnel and technology to monitor publicly available online information and turn it into intelligence.

A “data-to-intelligence gap” prevented the conversion of “online information into actionable intelligence,” it said, adding that conviction rates in cybercrime and illegal SIM cases remained very low.

REGULATORY AND CAPACITY GAPS

The minister said the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority, established under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Amendment Act 2025, was not yet fully operational.

Once functioning, it would take responsibility for social media regulation, including platform registration and content oversight, while the PTA would retain a content-blocking role, according to the response.

Naqvi called for faster operationalization of the authority, binding compliance arrangements with platforms and penalties, including bans, for companies that failed to comply with Pakistani law.

These were recommendations set out in the parliamentary answer, which gave no implementation timetable or announcement of an imminent platform ban.

The government has defended stronger online regulation as necessary to tackle disinformation. Human Rights Watch, however, has warned that the amended law’s vague criteria for removing content and criminalizing false information threaten freedom of expression.

Naqvi also proposed automated monitoring of banned organizations’ online activities, a shared digital intelligence repository, regional forensic laboratories and specialist training for investigators and prosecutors.

COUNTERTERRORISM FUNDING

The response identified financial and legal constraints at the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which coordinates policy but has no investigative, arrest or enforcement powers.

NACTA received an allocation of approximately Rs1.33 billion ($4.8 million) for fiscal 2026–27 against a request for Rs2.98 billion ($10.8 million), leaving it with less than half the funding sought. It has requested additional resources.

“NACTA intends to establish National Counter Terrorism Division to not only ensure operational role for the eradication of terrorism and extremism but also make sure effective CT coordination across the country,” the response said.

It did not specify how the proposed division would be constituted or what legal changes would be required to grant operational powers.

The minister separately reported that security forces conducted 5,143 intelligence-based operations between the beginning of 2026 and September 29, killing 2,410 people described as terrorists, injuring 806 and arresting 3,518.

The figures were government-reported and could not be independently verified.