Daily Times

India, the “largest democracy” in the world, has resorted to brute force against Kashmiri people who have merely been asking for the fulfilment of the 68-year-old promise the world made to them i.e. the right of self-determination. Many people have been killed in cold blood, while others have been disabled and blinded by the use of the so-called non-lethal pellet gun. It forced the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen to call it the “biggest blot” on the name of Indian democracy. How did the largest democracy react to this criticism? It disabled Internet and mobile services in the region so that no news of the ongoing slaughter of Kashmiris got out to the public. Now the largest democracy in the world is coercing international corporates like Facebook to do its dirty work.

Pakistanis speaking out against the atrocities in Kashmir have also been targeted. In particular Facebook’s decision to remove Hamza Ali Abbasi’s post about Indian atrocities in Kashmir is a shocking display of pusillanimity on part of the global giant. It has underscored the fact that high-minded ideals like “freedom of expression” and “freedom of speech” that corporations like Facebook and others claim to profess are very hollow indeed. It puts people like me who have fought for free access to Facebook and YouTube in court in a rather awkward position, all thanks to Facebook’s shameless and cowardly conduct.

The lesson one must draw from this is twofold: everything in the modern world is about money and clout. India has the clout and the money. We do not. Second lesson is that for corporate interests, Facebook and other such global giants will gladly throw human rights activists under the bus. They do not give two hoots about digital rights and freedoms. All they care about is making money. This was what Narendra Modi met Mark Zuckerberg for last year, and this is where the nexus between corporates and governments especially is a cause for grave concern.

But how do we react? Our reaction should be measured, and should hit Facebook where it hurts: its corporate interests. Nothing will bring Facebook to its senses faster than a direct challenge to its strategic business plan, which is to make Facebook and Internet synonymous in developing countries like ours. By this I do not mean anything as crude as blocking Facebook. Such a measure would be counterproductive, and even harmful to our own interests because Facebook admittedly has a lot of utility in terms of communication and business. Too often we have bitten the bullet by blocking websites to punish them, in the process appearing to be uncivilised savages ourselves. Instead we should be smart about how to tackle Facebook. We should speak the language that the world is speaking. This is the language of net neutrality and Internet freedom. Ours is after all a principled stance. No corporate should be allowed to become so big that it can shut down the voice of people.

Time and again digital rights activists all around the world have complained about Facebook’s initiatives like Internet.org and Free Basics for precisely the same reason. Facebook zero-rating is another phenomenon that at least two of our telecom companies offer. Perhaps it is time that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) took a long hard look at this zero-rating business, and did something about implementing the principle of net neutrality in Pakistan. Net neutrality means that Internet service providers, including telecom companies, must be bound to provide unencumbered content without positive or negative discrimination. The idea is to preserve the Internet as a free and competitive market of ideas and content. In the case of Facebook, this would mean no more internet.org, no more Free Basics and especially no more Facebook Zero. Obviously, this would mean that some of the telecom companies in Pakistan would have to adjust to the new paradigm, and give up their symbiotic relationship with the giant. That is a small price to pay to ensure that the entire Internet is kept free for all without any discrimination.

India, whose bruised ego Facebook is bending over backwards to satisfy, implemented net neutrality through a regulation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in February this year. Therefore, the PTA should follow suit and deal a deathblow to Facebook’s overreaching corporate ambitions in Pakistan. We may not be as big as India but we are still 200 million people. That is larger than most of the countries in the world. It is about time we threw our weight around as well.

It will have a domino effect. I am sure that many other nations all over Asia and the developing world will follow suit. Our objective should be to ensure that Facebook’s attempt to monopolise the Internet is soundly defeated. Let them realise what happens when you make shady deals with the “largest democracy” in the world to stifle freedom of expression that you yourself claim to champion. Of course, there would be a price to pay for this principled move. Pakistan’s own government will not be able to demand similar removals as it has done so in the past, targeting secular and liberal bloggers in the country. Would it be such a bad thing if our government loses its leverage against the people? I for one would welcome it. In the long run a free, impartial and unstinted Internet is good for Pakistan and is good for the world.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore and the author of the book Mr Jinnah: Myth and Reality. He can be contacted via twitter @therealylh and through his email address yasser.hamdani@gmail.com