Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman retired Lt Gen Hafeez Ur Rehman said on Wednesday that regulation alone is insufficient to address the harmful effects of social media. He stressed that parents, teachers and society must collectively take responsibility for protecting children online. The chairman was addressing the concluding session of the Digital Tahaffuz Summit in Islamabad, where he said that ensuring a safe and secure digital environment in Pakistan is the top priority of the authority. His remarks placed the role of the regulator within a wider effort in which families, schools and communities also have a part, and they were made at an event that was devoted to the safety of young people in the digital space.
Highlighting the challenges that the regulator faces, the chairman said that PTA receives between 1,000 and 1,500 complaints every day and processes them for necessary action. He explained that the authority deals with online content on the basis of complaints, as it does not have an automated system, a large team or monitoring tools based on artificial intelligence (AI) that would allow it to review social media content proactively. He added that the absence of a physical presence of international technology companies in Pakistan makes the full enforcement of local laws challenging, and that other countries in the region face the same problem.
Emphasizing the role of parents, the chairman said that children today ask questions and look for logical explanations. He urged parents to develop friendly relationships with their children, instead of resorting to scolding and reprimands, and he encouraged them to involve their children in outdoor sports and activities and to maintain open communication with them. These suggestions place the main responsibility for guidance at home, where parents can talk with their children about what they see online and can offer them alternatives to long periods of screen use.
The chairman also called for the inclusion of formal education on the positive and negative aspects of social media in school curricula, so that children can understand the benefits and the risks of digital platforms. Appreciating the organization of the summit, he said that similar seminars should be held regularly in different cities across the country, in order to promote digital awareness and help ensure a safer digital future for Pakistan. His statements combine a description of the limits of regulation with a call for education in schools, for parental involvement and for repeated awareness events outside the capital.
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