Pakistan has told the United Nations that digital rights in Pakistan and elsewhere are under pressure from large technology firms that, it says, turn emerging tools, censorship and surveillance into weapons against people’s right to self-determination and against honest public debate.
Speaking as the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) opened its review of information questions, Amanat Ali, press counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, argued that shutdowns of the internet, censorship, digital monitoring and tight media rules are used to mute lawful voices, twist what is happening on the ground and paint struggles for basic rights as illegitimate.
What Pakistan asked the UN to confront
Ali said the same toolkit—shutdowns, surveillance, censorship and restrictive media laws—is systematically applied to quiet dissent and to weaken campaigns for fundamental rights and self-determination. He pointed in particular to strategic information blockades by occupying powers and to laws that, in Pakistan’s view, hide abuses in occupied territories and conflict zones behind the language of media control.
He called for urgent international cooperation to limit how much power multinational technology corporations hold, and to stop those restrictive media rules from being used as cover. In the same address he pressed for stronger action against Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia, saying hate speech and intolerance are especially dangerous in a polarised information climate.
Algorithms, disinformation and artificial intelligence
Spotlighting what he described as the unchecked reach of big tech, Ali criticised opaque algorithms and corporate content policies that shape global discourse without clear public accountability. Misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, he said, are no longer mere communication failures; they are actively used to divide societies and erode trust, with severe effects in conflict zones.
On artificial intelligence (AI)—computer systems that can generate or filter information at scale—he accepted that the technology can widen knowledge and speed development. He also warned that misuse enables wide deception and damages the integrity of information, which is why he said transparent international governance matters.
Multilingual UN messaging
Ali closed by urging the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC)—the UN’s public communications arm—to put more resources into multilingualism so official languages are less unevenly served, and to use local UN Information Centres to carry credible, balanced reporting.
Taken together, Pakistan’s intervention framed digital rights in Pakistan’s diplomatic messaging as part of a wider fight over who controls online speech, evidence from conflict areas, and the tools that decide what billions of people see.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Pakistan ne UN ko kaha ke bari tech companies digital space ko hathiyar bana rahi hain. Internet band karna, nigrani aur censorship se logon ki awaz dabai jati hai, khas tor par occupied aur conflict ilaqon mein. Algorithms aur galat khabrein logon ka etibar khatam karti hain. Aam qari ke liye yeh matlab hai ke online khabar aur debate sirf companies ke qawaid se nahi, balke international hisab-kitab se bhi juri honi chahiye.
