WHILE the state’s proposal to create a Cybersecurity and Social Media Awareness Council envisages needed interventions to protect children from online harm, the same body’s focus on ‘fake news’ — as described by the government — is cause for concern. Speaking at a recent seminar in Islamabad, the federal information minister said there is a need to raise awareness about the “dangers of fake news”, while also emphasising the need for digital education in schools and colleges. In particular, he said children should be protected from cyberattacks. At the same event, the IT minister observed that it was important for both parents and children to know who the latter were interacting with online.

There can be little argument with the fact that cyberspace can be a dangerous place for children. According to a Unicef report, one in 16 children in Pakistan aged 12-17 experienced “at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse” in a single year. This comes to around 1.5m children. Moreover, the National Commission on the Rights of the Child points out that youngsters are vulnerable to “cyberbullying, online grooming, sharing of sexual abuse materials” and other types of harm. There have been disturbing recent reports of even parents and guardians involved in the online abuse of children. It is, therefore, essential to protect youngsters from online predators through digital literacy, while bringing those involved in these abominable crimes to justice. Pakistan’s children face enough challenges; the state must do all it can to protect them from online harm. But combining steps against cyberbullying and online abuse of children with the state’s campaign against ‘fake news’ needs to be reconsidered. The state of freedom of expression in Pakistan is already quite poor, so any further attempts to clamp down on free speech must be resisted. Instead, the proposed council should focus on protecting children from dangers in the cyber realm, as well as keeping citizens overall safe from online threats.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2026