Balochistan Social Media Policy

About this law

What the policy is

The Balochistan Social Media Policy is the provincial government's first formal policy on social media. It is an executive policy approved by the provincial cabinet, not an act passed by the Balochistan Assembly, so it creates no criminal offences or penalties of its own. According to the cabinet's announcement, it is meant to "develop a comprehensive framework for regulating social media while encouraging its positive use", bringing digital media under a "formalised structure". Its full text has not been published.

The government's stated aims, as Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has described them, are to counter "negative propaganda" and misinformation, promote a positive image of Balochistan among young people, strengthen social harmony and national unity, and use social media to support government work on jobs, education and public awareness.

History

The provincial cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Bugti, approved the policy on 22 October 2024, at the same meeting at which it decided to set up a Right to Information commission. In April 2025 Bugti met social media influencers in Quetta, said the province had prepared its first social media policy and would introduce it soon, and promised to incorporate users' concerns and suggestions. He called social media "a tool for progress or a weapon for misinformation" and said the government would welcome constructive criticism.

The policy follows earlier steps against online criticism by state employees. A previous provincial government ordered employees to leave pages and WhatsApp groups that it said spread propaganda, and in March 2025 Bugti directed commissioners and district officers to act against government employees involved in "anti-state" propaganda.

How it affects online speech

Because the policy is not a law, people in Balochistan who are prosecuted over posts are charged under federal laws: the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, the Penal Code and, for alleged "anti-state" content, sometimes the Anti-Terrorism Act. What the policy shapes is how the provincial government itself treats online speech: what counts as "propaganda", which accounts it engages with or reports, and how it disciplines its own employees for what they post.

That matters in a province where online speech is already constrained. Mobile internet is repeatedly suspended there on security grounds, as the Digital Shutdowns map records, and Baloch activists and journalists say that criticism of security operations and enforced disappearances is treated as anti-state activity. The Diplomat, citing The Balochistan Post, has reported that the provincial government pays social media operatives to promote official narratives, a claim that has not been independently verified. Until the policy's text is published, its limits on regulation and any safeguards for criticism remain unknown.