UNITED NATIONS, Nov 03 (APP):In a sharp critique of the global digital landscape, Pakistani has warned that world's tech giants are systematically weaponizing emerging technologies, censorship, and digital surveillance to suppress legitimate self-determination struggles and manipulate public opinion. "Internet shutdowns, censorship, digital surveillance and restrictive media laws are employed to suppress legitimate voices, distort realities and delegitimize struggles for fundamental rights and self-determination," Pakistani delegate Amanat Ali told the UN …
Tech giants weaponizing digital space to crush right of self-determination, warns Pakistan
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 03 (APP):In a sharp critique of the global digital landscape, Pakistani has warned that world’s tech giants are systematically weaponizing emerging technologies, censorship, and digital surveillance to suppress legitimate self-determination struggles and manipulate public opinion.
“Internet shutdowns, censorship, digital surveillance and restrictive media laws are employed to suppress legitimate voices, distort realities and delegitimize struggles for fundamental rights and self-determination,” Pakistani delegate Amanat Ali told the UN general Assembly’s Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) as it began its review of questions relating to information.
Against this backdrop, Amanat Ali, press counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, called for stronger efforts to counter Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia, warning of the broader dangers posed by hate speech and intolerance in an increasingly polarized information environment.
In this regard, the Pakistani delegate called for urgent international cooperation to curtail the concentration of power among multinational technology corporations and block the use of restrictive media laws that mask human rights abuses in occupied territories and conflict zones.
He emphasized that misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech are no longer just communication failures, but actively weaponized instruments used to polarize societies and destroy public trust, posing a severe threat in conflict zones.
Spotlighting the immense, unchecked power of multinational tech corporations, the Pakistani delegate criticized their opaque algorithms and corporate content policies, which systematically control and alter global public discourse without accountability.
He explicitly targeted the strategic information blockades enforced by occupying powers. He noted that internet shutdowns, digital surveillance, censorship, and restrictive media laws are systematically deployed to silence dissent, distort ground realities, and delegitimize struggles for fundamental rights and self-determination.
While acknowledging AI’s potential to expand knowledge and accelerate development, he warned that its misuse facilitates widespread deception and alters information integrity, making transparent international governance vital.
Ali concluded by urging the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC) to prioritize multilingualism by allocating more resources to close the gap between official languages, and to leverage local UN Information Centres to broadcast credible, balanced coverag
