Pakistan: multiple journalists and a dozen YouTube channels targeted under PECA in less than a year

Between arrests, summonses and online censorship, the January 2025 amendmentto the PECA, has exposed journalists to a series of arbitrary measures, often triggered by online publications. The amendmentexpanded the scope of the law, allowing it to stifle criticism by introducing vague definitions of prohibited content. For example, it bans content for which "sufficient reasons exist to believe it may be fake or false," content deemed contrary to "the ideology of Pakistan," and content "likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic." The January amendment also created a government-controlled regulatory authority and introduced penalties of up to three years' imprisonment.

Since the start of the year, at least nine journalists have been prosecutedunder the PECA, according to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Interior, and it has been used as a pretext to block journalists' YouTube channels.

In September 2025, a new amendmentto this controversial law was introduced to end the exemption from liability for Internet service providers (ISPs), hosts, platforms, and social media. This means they would be required to promptly remove any content deemed reprehensible - based on the same vague criteria - or face sanctions that could also target their executives.

Four journalists targeted in one month

On 6 August, the new National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), created by the Interior Ministry to monitor online activity, issued a prosecution noticeto journalist Muhammad Akbar Notezaiof the newspaper Dawnin response to his 2024 investigation into corruption in Balochistan Province - a worrying retroactive application of the law. A few days earlier, on 29 July, a criminal complaint had been filedagainst journalist Muhammad Aslamof Lahore Rang for posting on Facebook about corruption in a road construction project. The case was later dismissed following an out-of-court settlement, which included the removal of his article.

On 22 August, freelance journalist Khalid Jamil was arrestedby the NCCIA, accused of sharing "highly intimidating" content on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). He was released on bail after his court appearance on 23 August, but legal proceedings are still ongoing. On 25 August, Irfan Khan, director of Azaad Digitaland vice-president of the Peshawar Press Club, received a summonsfrom the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after posting allegations of corruption against a local official. He still faces the threat of prosecution.

A wave of online censorship

Journalists' YouTube channels have also been targeted on a massive scale. On 8 July 2025, at the request of the NCCIA, an Islamabad court ordered 27 YouTube channels to be blocked under the PECA, accusing them of spreading "anti-Pakistan" content. Among them were channels belonging to exiled journalists such as Ahmad Noorani, Wajahat Saeed Khan, Moeed Pirzada, and Pakistan-based journalists like Matiullah Janand Asad Ali Toor, as well as media outlets Daily Qudratand Charsadda Journalist. After recognising that no prior notice had been given, a district court partially suspendedthe decision for five of these channels. On 11 September, an Islamabad court finally orderedthe unblocking of 11 out of the 27 channels after they filed appeals.

Meanwhile, legal challenges to the PECA are progressing slowly in the courts. While the Islamabad High Court was scheduled to hear petitions contesting its constitutionality on 18 September, the hearing was postponed, with no new date announced at the time of this writing. Other petitions filed before the Supreme Court, the Sindh High Court and the Lahore High Court remain pending.