Hate Speech, Freedom of Expression and Media Regulation

Abstract

The modern media environment has escalated discussions on the frontiers of the freedom of speech and the hate speech especially in countries such as Pakistan where freedom of expression is provided in the constitution together with the legal and administrative restrictions of freedom of speech. The paper is a critical study of the legal, ethical and regulatory aspects of hate speech in the Pakistani media. It examines the mediation of constitutional guarantees of the Article 19 of the constitution of the state by the legislation like the Pakistani Penal Code, the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016 (PECA) and the regulation of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). Through contextualizing the approach followed in Pakistan in comparative models of the European Union and the United States, the paper determines the underlying tensions between the democratic pluralism and the control of the state in dealing with harmful speech. It states that international norms make it proportional and necessary to restrict speech, however, in the case of regulation, Pakistan is inclined to apply security in the rules and moralizes the rules, which becomes a boundary between the reasonable restriction and censorship. Another aspect of mechanism through which digital media and algorithmic amplification can reshape the discourse of the people is also identified and a rights-based regulatory approach that would reconcile the freedom of speech with the protection of incitement is also suggested. In the form of doctrinal analysis and allusion to recent media jurisprudence, this paper adds into the discussion about how to reconsider the constitutional vow to free speech and the social desire to restrain hatefulness-based discourse.