AFTER Twitter, the cases against vloggers are news in Pakistan. Vloggers are media gladiators in the town halls of modern democracies. Donkey and snake are free despite their role in getting Adam and Eve on earth. History shows that tweeting on Twitter is better than silence followed by Molotov cocktails. The state and its democratic institutions should tolerate dissenting voices also to strengthen democracy. Here is how Pakistan can learn from the West to protect its democracy, elections and individual freedoms.
A clarification before discussing social media: Donkey or jackass is the mascot symbol of the Democratic Party of America. Donkeys were portrayed in Biblical works as symbols of service, suffering, peace and humility. They are also associated with the theme of wisdom in the Hebrew Bible’s story of Balaam’s ass and are seen in a positive light through the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. President Jackson lived with his enemies who twisted his name to “jackass” as a term of ridicule regarding a stupid and stubborn animal.
In social media, Twitter is the modern town hall. It is the heart of modern democracies. One of the most common formats is a briefing by a panel of three or four people and a moderator. The panel discussion typically lasts from 35-50 minutes, and the question-and-answer period usually lasts about 30 minutes. The public and policymakers are the primary audience for this type of town hall. It is critical to protect the voice of the public and avoid Molotov cocktails in the national interest.
In the US, public funds aren’t used for social media. However, ProgressNow is initiating a $70 million project to aid Biden and Democrats in winning the social media battle against Trump and GOP rivals (Politico, 24 Aug 2023). It’s hoped that Pakistan will enforce laws against misusing public and party funds for social media campaigns against state institutions, as seen in the case of PTI’s alleged misuse of Rs. 870m (26 Oct 2023).
Pakistan can learn from the West to protect its democracy from social media in 2024. Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, was shut down after allegations of using data of surveys and Facebook for weaponizing political messaging (Cambridge Analytica: how did it turn clicks into votes? 6 May 2018, The Guardian). The firm targeted American voters to win elections (Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach, 17 March 2018).
The government should identify social media platforms in Pakistan which abused users’ data to undermine democracy, including events surrounding elections. On 18 Dec 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission for protecting consumers gave final approval to settle the cases of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, including refunds to social media users for deceiving them (You can now apply for your share of a $725 million Facebook data privacy settlement. Here’s how, 19 April 2023, CNN).
As a constitutional institution, it is the job of the Election Commission of Pakistan to protect democracy by streamlining the use of party funding. The state and its democratic institutions should play their due role to have a failsafe mechanism for political party funding and its use for democratic check and balance with oversight of the Supreme Court (judicial review). Political parties will never do it. Cambridge Analytica was based in the UK and funded by Conservative donors in America and other parts of the world (Cambridge Analytica Wikipedia and SCL Group, Wikipedia). Also, there is a need to enforce anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws to end dirty money in democratic politics, including making public overseas private property registers, bank accounts, tax havens and shell companies.
On 16 May 2019, the US Congress passed the Election Security Act 2019 to protect elections for public office by providing financial support and enhanced security for the infrastructure used to carry out such elections and for other purposes. The paper ballot was chosen as the most secure way to protect the vote (Why paper is considered state-of-the-art voting technology, 14 August 2019, Brookings). The counting of visible paper ballot saved America’s democracy in the 2020 Presidential election. Many states took days to call the election. Could it happen again in 2024 (27 Feb 2024, NBC News)?
Like the UK and America, social media is a challenge for Pakistan. It is channelling voter rage to win elections without promising anything in return. A book titled ‘White Rural Rage: A threat to American Democracy’ shows rural America left out of the economic system. It is most likely to abandon democratic norms and ready to accept the use of violence. Political campaigns use social media to target them to win elections without promising anything in return. In the UK, it has been pointed out that Labour is not promising anything (The Guardian). Winning elections without serving the needs of voters will not fix democracy. It is the real challenge to democracy in the age of social media, not dissenting voices.
—The writer is senior political analyst based in Islamabad.
Email: [email protected]
views expressed are writer’s own.
