OUR CORRESPONDENT
LAHORE: The 18th batch of the Youth Parliament Pakistan (YPP), in partnership with TikTok, convened its second session in Lahore, marking a pivotal moment in the digital engagement of Pakistan’s youth. The session featured around 300 primary members representing all National Assembly constituencies of Pakistan, in addition to Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Overseas Pakistanis, along with approximately 300 alternate members. Supported by TikTok, the 18th YPP is the most extensive and diverse youth representation in Pakistan to date.
Founder of Youth Parliament Pakistan Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob highlighted how this collaboration not only enriches the Youth Parliament Pakistan experience but also serves as a vital link to connect with the youth through modern digital platforms. Emphasizing the significance of such alliances, he emphasized their role in empowering young leaders, enabling them to actively participate in crucial national and global discussions. The session proceeded with a concise presentation by Mr. Mehboob on the Electoral system of Pakistan highlighting basic electoral system of Pakistan, emphasizing the gender gap, election processes, the vital role of the ECP, and specifics about the upcoming 2024 elections. He also touched upon the distinctions between appellate and election tribunals, presented an analysis of ECI and ECP functions, and also engaged with MYPs through a question-and-answer session.
A panel discussion on Tackling Online Misinformation/Disinformation & Fake News was opened by Ms. Amna Kausar, Senior Projects Manager PILDAT & YPP. Within the discussion, Mr. Fahad Khan Niazi, Head of Government Relations and Public Policy, Emerging Markets, TikTok explained TikTok’s role as an entertainment platform while addressing the growing challenges of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news highlighting the platform’s introduction of community guidelines to help users identify, evaluate, and combat these issues, underscoring its commitment to fostering freedom of expression. He explained the difference between normal community guidelines and election related guidelines elaborating TikTok’s stance against hate speech and political content. Ms Zara Basharat-Higgs, Head of Public Policy Programs for South Asia & Pakistan, TikTok highlighted recent projects of TikTok in Pakistan on the subject. Prof. Dr. Savera Shami, Chair of Digital Media at School of Communication Studies, University of the Punjab emphasized the importance of digital literacy focusing on the need of introduction of different courses on digital security in higher education institutions; she also highlighted the fact that the percentage of unintentional misinformation spread is much greater than the percentage of intentional misinformation. Ms. Benazir Shah, an Analyst defined misinformation, and disinformation and introduced the definition of mal-information; she mentioned the formation of a coalition of media organization and CSOs to fact check the online information before sharing it on public platforms. Mr. Saroop Ijaz, Analyst/Lawyer discussed censorship and the control of information by the state. He talked about the legal framework in Pakistan regarding misinformation, disinformation and fake news and also how to curb and control it.