Atlantic Council SOUTH ASIA CENTER
ISSUE BRIEF
Pakistan’s Data-Protection Landscape in 2023 APRIL2023
UZAIR YOUNUS
A
rapidly digitizing society, in which access to affordable mobile Internet has become the norm, is seen as a transformative opportunity for Pakistan. This, in addition to the fact that the majority of the country is below the age of thirty, is often cited as a datapoint that highlights the economic, technological, and social tailwinds of which Pakistan is primed to take advantage. As a result, Pakistan’s technology ecosystem has taken off in the last few years, attracting record inflows of investment into the country’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, and earning critical export earnings through both technology companies and freelancers selling their services in global markets. The South Asia Center serves as the Atlantic Council’s focal point for work on greater South Asia as well as relations between these countries, the neighboring regions, Europe, and the United States. It seeks to foster partnerships with key institutions in the region to establish itself as a forum for dialogue between decision-makers in South Asia, the United States, and NATO. These deliberations cover internal and external security, governance, trade, economic development, education, and other issues. The Center remains committed to working with stakeholders from the region itself, in addition to partners and experts in the United States and Europe, to offer comprehensive analyses and recommendations for policymakers.
At the same time, recurring economic and political crises, coupled with policy instability and ad hoc interventions in key sectors—including technology— continue to cast a dark shadow. These issues have been compounded by regulatory and legislative proposals that have raised concerns among both civil-society and private-sector actors, including foreign companies operating in Pakistan. To better understand the regulatory and legislative state of play in Pakistan’s technology ecosystem, and to uncover ways in which policymakers can build confidence among key stakeholders, the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center hosted a private roundtable in February 2023. This document seeks to highlight the concerns raised in this convening, and provides recommended steps that policymakers in Pakistan ought to take to address key concerns around free expression on the Internet, and to generate momentum to catalyze higher levels of growth in Pakistan’s technology ecosystem. In short, Pakistan’s approach to technology policymaking needs a complete reorientation. In particular, the following changes to how the country approaches technology policy are necessary. 1) Arbitrary actions and rulemaking need to be abandoned, and a more constructive, transparent, and collaborative approach to drafting legislation needs to be followed.