PUBLIC access to the internet became possible in the mid-1990s, but its proper widespread proliferation in Pakistani society occurred sometime after the Y2K scare in 2000. Traditional forms of mass communication were popular before the World Wide Web’s dominance when people consumed information through newspapers, TV bulletins and radio stations.

Broadly, the state apparatus retained an upper hand in controlling the ‘supply chain’ of infor- mation. Setting up unlicensed television and radio channels was unimaginable on account of the resources involved. On the other hand, it was easy to censor or restrict the publication of newspapers since their tangible assets, like, say, the printing press, could be easily seized.

The problem for the state is manifested in the dilemma that popular social media platforms do not have any tangible assets in Pakistan which could be seized or ‘managed’. Their massive data centres are either based in the United States, or distributed in select geographic zones across the world.

To circumvent this dilemma, the state apparatus resorts to arbitrarily restricting access between the supplier and the consumer. I think the matter is wrongly framed in the context of generational frictions or that the ‘old guard’ wants to trap the mass of millennials into ‘absolute subservience’. Many people in their 50s and beyond are also regular users of social media, and young civil servants are also eager to find means of controlling access to platforms to fulfil the ‘task’ assigned to them, thanks to a hereditary colonial culture of super administration that rewards and appreciates officials who blindly follow orders.

Social media platforms oblige select countries for data-sharing in view of commercial interests. Notwithstanding the rather conflated rhetoric about ‘fifth generation warfare’, a recent report by Kepios revealed that less than 30 per cent of Pakistan’s population uses social media.

Whilethe domestic proliferation of these social media platforms itself is largely insignificant, unstable internet connectivity and frequent shutdowns further disincentivise these platforms from looking to Pakistan as a lucrative territory worth fighting for.

Admirers of Carl von Clausewitz, who erect barriers between suppliers and consumers of social media content, are (mis)led to believe that such measures will create ‘deterrence’ and lead to platform compliance. The motley group of advisers counselling them may fear that informed advice might render their own career prospects obsolete.

Here, I am reminded of an ominous quote attributed to American muckraker and social reformer Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it,” he said.

Rigid organisational cultures deeply impress upon the psychology of the workforce and help sustain echo chambers. Wise leaders behave differently. Do we have someone among us who fits the bill?

Zaki Khalid
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2024