Regional offices for regional regulation

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) is directing the federal government of Pakistan to adopt the proposal of an inter-ministerial committee to sign treaties with YouTube, Google, and other similar service providers to establish regional offices in the country.

This is a move that will undoubtedly strengthen the relationships between countries with stricter content regulation policies and Internet media corporations.

The establishment of offices within such localities will force businesses to adapt their internal policies to adhere to regional laws, allowing for better vetting of content prior to publication.

Local jurisdiction is a topic that has lead to a number of high profile bans on online content, especially with regards to social media giant Facebook, and search engine company Google. This new regulatory proposition, one that has already been adopted in Iran and India, aims to improve affairs.

PHC Chief Justices issued the order on Tuesday whilst hearing the application stating social media website Facebook contained blasphemous material.

The previous implemented system blocked content on a complaint-received basis, with a large number pages blocked on a daily basis. An earlier proposed regulation system demanded content was to be automatically blocked before reaching the public. This, however, was deemed impossible, and so the proposal for regional offices for better internal vetting came into action.