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New Information Regime

World is passing through a transition phase in many ways. Geopolitics, digital revolution and post pandemic economic recovery has brought into a situation which nation states are finding it difficult to handle with. Politics of south China sea and Indo-Pacific is taking a sharp turn due to US and China rivalry. US is triggering the existing fault lines between China and regional states.

Development in artificial intelligence and biotechnology are biggest challenges of 21st century. Advances in both fields, facilitate humanity the power to reshape and re-engineer life. The ongoing  virtual wars are part of the same challenge. These virtual confrontations aim to overcome the perception of masses for trade, political and other social benefits.

The prevailing Information regime is being termed as ‘Information disorder’. In recent past, we have witnessed chaos more often than in the distant past and it is because of manipulation of information through an organized infrastructure by states and non state actors.

Information disorder has emerged as a new kind of threat for the world. It is equally harmful for individuals, society and states.  

It is a new kind of war which can be termed a globe-spanning information conflict, fought by hundreds of millions of people across dozens of social media platforms. It is not only political battles, but insurgencies, conflicts, human rights, marketing and branding being managed through digital platforms.

Information is hazy due to many reasons and affecting the decision making at state level and contributing towards frustration in public. Our political environment is highly charged since last couple of years. Political news remains a dominant discourse in Pakistan. Various political stake holders are 24/7 busy in political expediencies and their social media teams try through social media platforms to dominate the narrative.

More the political contest in a state, more intense journalism there will be. Consensus among political elite promote less dissenting voices. Pakistan has been marred with political controversies, primarily due to terrorism, petty politics and the societal layout, which we inherited after partition. Our society is politically more obsessed and charged to hear the political voices. Populist media provides enough of content to the viewers and listeners. Media mostly rely on controversies which originate from different sources. It further indicates that there are more power blocks than few and these power blocks continue their efforts for more space in media. Social media has same pattern to gain influence over public opinion. This tug of war results into chaos and unrest.

Another challenge is instant news cycle. Cheap ‘go anywhere’ cameras and phones are challenging the credibility of governments, corporations, and traditional media. Nick Gowing in his book,  ‘Skyful of Lies and Swans’ explains that how in a moment of major, unexpected crisis the institutions of power, whether political, governmental, military or corporate , face a new, acute vulnerability of both their influence and effectiveness.

Information domain in Pakistan has entered into a new regime since last one decade. Two leading political parties PML (N) and PTI have overtly taken an aggressive posture in domestic politics and directly criticizing the military institution in public rallies. This new norm is not a routine issue but an extra-ordinary posture by political elite of the country. It tantamount to challenge the status quo which has de-stabilized the power structure holding the state.

Political assertions by leading political parties have given birth to a new information regime in the country. Freedom of expression is being used to coerce political opponents and institutions for political gains. Actors use various techniques to inflict harm, for political advantages and for earning money. Disinformation is most harmful way of achieving end objectives. A totally fabricated news is floated on any social media platform through unknown sources which is proliferated by troll farms. Factious hashtags (#) are made to malign individuals, organisations and political opponents. A local television reported few days ago that during  months of June and July 2022 in Pakistan, 4.86 million tweets were originated for twenty one hashtag against military and seven were exclusively against military leadership of Pakistan. Similarly, social media trolls from Afghanistan and India joined the bandwagon. It resulted into a dangerous polarization of whole society. This unrest is indirectly a big hazard in the development of country.

Domestic political unrest and information regime is ripe for propaganda by external forces. Algorithms is new language. Data mining, analytics set the tone of business and markets.   Amnesty International report In 2017, the Rohingya were killed, tortured, raped, and displaced in the thousands as part of the Myanmar security forces’ campaign of ethnic cleansing. In the months and years leading up to the atrocities, Facebook’s algorithms were intensifying a storm of hatred against the Rohingya which contributed to real-world violence,”

Twitter is most effective and quickest way to inform and comment. It is also quickest way to proliferate disinformation and misinformation. Retweet is biggest example of misinformation.  The orthodox political slogans like “Roti Kapra or Makan” have been overtaken by digital hashtags #ImportedHakumatNamanzoor, #votekoizzatdo, #merepasstumho #Danishmargaya. These hashtags are like football matches. More you score, earlier you win. Twitter the most used social media holds immense significance in shaping national narratives and political discourse in Pakistan apart from giving users that dopamine rush. A think tank study in 2021 analysed 9,000 trending hashtags and found that twitter discussion revolve around politics, entertainment, sports, human rights, and religion.

There is no turning back from here. Cyber world is all pervasive and dominant over all spheres of human lives. World is literally interconnected through various internet platforms and its has completely changed the human behavior. Machines bring social changes. Internet has swallowed many industries like telephone, cameras, watch industry, books, writing material, photocopier, fax machines, human resource etc. It has brought new catalogue of professions, data scientists, data mininst, web browsers, webmaster, AI experts, social media platforms, online shopping, distance learning etc. Nation states will have to evolve to meet these challenges for a peaceful and stable social order.
Atique Ur Rehman
( atiquesheikh2000@gmail.com)