Pakistan: Adopted Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules 2021 including content monitoring requirement

On 13 October 2021, the "Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules 2021", prescribed by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, were published in the official gazette of Pakistan, updating the 2021 version of the Rules. The rules require the removal or blocking of unlawful online content within 48 hours. Unlawful content includes any content that offends the "glory of Islam", the integrity and security of Pakistan, the public order, decency and morality. Correspondingly, the rules allow the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to throttle or block access to content and social media networks hosting such content when the social media company does not comply with the order to remove unlawful content. Finally, social media companies are requested to deploy content moderation methods applying Artificial Intelligence techniques and moderators familiar with local news.