In this wired world, your mind isn’t just yours—it’s a battlefield for information warfare. Welcome to the era of digital chattersphere where tweets and posts turn into ticking time bombs, and ‘likes’ can ignite a nation’s downfall. Social networks today are an inalienable part of people’s lives, tools for communication, information exchange for people in the world. However, despite its benefits it has appeared as one of the efficient tools for propaganda, launching of conspiracy theories, and disinformation. Digital warfare is much more dangerous for democracies as we have seen Pakistan where social media is being controlled to fuel tension, extremism and strife by certain actors. This phenomenon has extremely serious consequences on the society.
The negative influence of social media on the society in terms of shaping the opinion of the people of Pakistan and political agenda is immense, and it is for this reason social media is being used for propaganda and to promote the agenda of extremism. Facebook linked applications and X in particular are hotbeds for spreading rumors in a very fast and efficient manner with the clear purpose of stirring up social unrest. In Pakistan this has created what the military now calls ‘digital terrorism’ where social media is used to propagate conspiracy theories that threaten the state.
The incumbent head of the Pakistan’s armed forces, General Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), has spoken many times about threats emanating from social media. Speaking at a National Youth Convention in Islamabad, he reassured the audience that the State has a role to play in protecting its citizens from the ill-effects of the hysteria and division, to which social media fitna subjects its audience as. Moreover, he highlighted that it is important that the students of religious schools and seminaries should also represented in the programs and made aware about the threat posed by digital terrorism as they are more religiously inclined.He emphasized that for Pakistan’s security and development there should be unity between people, government, and military which is eroding with time because of the social media interferences.
In the past three years, the military and state have been branded negatively by different stakeholders in the Pakistan social media sphere. These campaigns, particularly by political activists and foreign organizations, have aggravated situations with an already hostile political and social climate within the country. The government together with the army has been responding to this by employing a crackdown approach that seeks to contain the agitation, through soft measures. These measures have included arrests, legal actions and limitation of the internet right to access culminating to the blocking of such sites as X.
The presence of digital propaganda and its employing for the purpose of radicalization and systemic division of society simply in Pakistan’s. Social media and particularly artificial intelligence open new and diverse dimensions to the democratic norms. Manipulative information, conspiracy theories, and deep fakes are weapons used by those who want to leverage the discord and citizens’ distrust of democracy. These actors seek to spread stories that are against pluralism and democratic values, so as to enhance the cleavages in society since cohesiveness is a prerequisite of any democracy. Loss of the society’s cohesiveness thus results to increased extremism and social misunderstandings.
Aggressiveness and fanaticism pose severe threats to the democratic process and social harmony in Pakistan, as General Munir has elaborated in his speeches. He has enlightened the world on states such as Libya, Syria, the Kashmir region, and Gaza, in which there is no law and order thereby resulting in human suffering. Through promising the Pakistan youth to embrace the freedom they enjoy, and to fight for the nation’s integrity, General Munir draws attention to the problems of the digital propaganda.
Pakistan’s fight against fake news and terror groups in the new world of cyberspace can well be billed as a test for democracy in the present day world. The military’s concerns regarding the use of the social media are not mere rhetoric; there is much legitimacy to them by reminding the people of the pitfalls of digital terrorism a term used in official discourse to refer to the use of the social media to spread ‘’fake’’ news and provoke violence.
General Munir met it head on, claiming that foreign powers have been plotting a new form of digital terrorism that seeks to estrange state institutions and the Pakistan people. He described the social media as being used in a way that fuels anarchy that has so much preemptive impact on the social fabric and democracy of the country. To counter these threats, the military has launched campaigns such as Azm-e-Istehkam that includes combating terrorism. This is a clear indication that there is an urgent necessity to come up with credible measures of addressing the issue of digital propaganda. Security and freedom are two important aspects in the relations of people to live without threatening each other. But the risks here are too great to be overlooked; if carefully reckoned, the effects of digital propaganda could be disastrous for Pakistan.
Lest it be thought that such difficulties are peculiar to Pakistan, let it be said that the family of nations is full of similar cases. Britain has recently upped the ante on its censorship laws with a campaign “Think before you post!” in the interest to protect democracy. Democratic states face the impact of misinformation, deep fake videos and images, and propaganda for extremism. These issues are sensitive because, the height of artificial intelligence has made it easier for fake news to make manufactured stories. The outcome is the decline in trust in the democratic political institutions as individuals fail to differentiate between the actual reality and a reality that has been fabricated on the internet.
The threat of digital propaganda is much more complicated and hard to evaluate, compare, and estimate. This is unlike kinetic terror threats to national security concerns that come with high risk and can easily be detected as an impending danger, unlike the gradual disintegration of society’s cohesiveness which festers slowly then becomes endemic. Countering social discord does not only entail after-the-fact actions; it takes anticipating measures in the future. Pre-emptive management of sources of discontent and division is important so as to curb its spread right from the start. This incorporates initiatives that are geared towards enhancing societal preparedness, media literacy which is an effort to make the public avoid being easily convinced by information consumed through the internet.
Authorities ought to pay attention to measures that prevent an escalation of polarization and extremism. This is to counter the increasing social media posts which feature injurious materials, interacting with the public to redress complaints, as well as disseminating messages that foster democracy as well as social inclusion. It is not enough to get rid of lies, but it is necessary to build conditions for the development of democracy, despite cyberturbulence.
The political uncertainties, higher levels of polarization and social and economic disruptions make it easier for the uprisings to worsen given the current state of affairs. Social media an instrument of communication and interaction and it has transformed into a double edged sword. If it is let loose, the results are entirely destructive not merely to Pakistan as a nation but to democracies in every part of the globe.
