Pakistan's Senate has voted to criminalize the "intentional" spreading of misinformation, with penalties including jail terms of up to three years. However, journalists and opposition figures have expressed concerns that the law could be used to suppress dissent and stifle free expression.

Pakistan's upper house of parliament passed a bill on Tuesday criminalizing the spread of online misinformation. The bill had already been passed in the National Assembly last week.

The law is designed to target anyone who "intentionally disseminates" information that they "reasonably believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic, disorder, or unrest." The new law would allow authorities to imprison social media users for up to three years for spreading disinformation, and it would impose fines of up to 2 million rupees (approximately $7,121 or €6,822).

Additionally, the legislation would establish an agency with the power to immediately block content deemed "unlawful and offensive" from social media platforms. This follows Pakistan's recent actions, such as blocking Wikipedia in 2023 over "blasphemous material," though the ban was lifted days later after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif intervened.

The approval of the bill prompted a walkout by journalists from the Senate's press gallery. Asif Bashir Chaudhry, a member of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, expressed his disappointment, stating that journalists felt betrayed by the government. He emphasized that while journalists genuinely supported a law against misinformation, they opposed its implementation through fear and coercion, vowing to challenge it on all available platforms.

Members of the center-left Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP), which is part of the ruling coalition in the Senate, also walked out during the vote on Tuesday. Pakistani media reported their opposition to the bill.

Shibli Faraz, leader of the opposition in the Senate and a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), which was led by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, criticized the bill as "highly undemocratic." He argued that the bill had been passed hastily without consulting stakeholders and suggested that it could be used to target PTI activists.

The backdrop of this legislative move includes multiple internet shutdowns imposed by Pakistani authorities in response to protests by PTI supporters. These protests have called for Khan's release, with many arguing that his corruption conviction was politically motivated.