ISLAMABAD, Jan 12 (APP): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Monday made a passionate call for joining forces to curb misinformation that is the biggest challenge in the digital age.
Addressing a dialogue organized by the Institute of Business Administration Karachi, the minister pointed out the worsening challenges stemming from misinformation, disinformation and fake news especially with the advent of the Artificial Intelligence.
During the dialogue which addressed the topic of “Facts Survive AI: Fighting Misinformation Together”, Attaullah Tarar highlighted the steps taken by the government for dealing with the issue.
“As Minister for Information and Broadcasting, I have taken several steps to counter this menace, especially with regard to establishment of Pakistan’s first Digital Communication Department, which is now an allied department of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,” he noted.
The minister highlighted the ministry’s efforts to counter misinformation in digital space especially through its social media handles that “either verify information or label fake information as misinformation”.
He congratulated the IBA for the huge success made through iVerify system at the national and international spectrum.
The minister underlined the need to collaborate and to create more cohesion among the stakeholders to deal with the misinformation which cannot be fought alone by the government.
“It is also a great responsibility upon the shoulders of our media industry. The media houses need to come forward,” he said urging the media to play its due role in tackling the misinformation.
He recalled his various meetings with social media platforms representatives which had now started labelling AI-created content as AI. “So I think we need to have labels for AI-created content or AI-generated content,” he added.
Tarar called for establishing more systems like iVerify in order to promote not only responsible journalism in Pakistan, but to call out fake news and to do it effectively and immediately.
“The community at large, the government, media houses, academia, the civil society, everyone has a role to play in countering misinformation. And on behalf of the government of Pakistan, I assure you that we will continue to play our role as we did during the May conflict with India,” the minister resolved.
He added that Pakistan won that war in a very very effective manner. “Even during that time, the narrative challenge was there and we coped up with it very, very effectively. Alhamdulillah.”
The minister said the way forward is “more cohesion, more collaborations, public-private partnership for which my ministry is totally supportive.”
He said the prime minister had given them full mandate to the ministry to do whatever is needed to counter misinformation.
As regard the media houses, he urged the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) to come forward and play their role. He assured the PBA and APNS of the government’s full support.
Atta Tarar said he looked forward to more collaborations, highlighting the ministry’s cooperation with the UNDP to deal with misinformation.
“In fact, we have a training workshop this week to counter misinformation and to equip not only officers of the Ministry of Information, but also media professionals so that they can counter misinformation, they can have the requisite skills to do so.” He called upon every member of society to come forward to deal with this challenge.
Pointing to the global perspective, he said the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report of 2024 says that the biggest short-term risk to the world at large is misinformation.
“They do not say climate change. They do not say nuclear warfare. They do not highlight any other issue as the biggest
short-term challenge,” he noted.
“They said misinformation because it can lead to a lot of chaos, a lot of anarchy. And I think especially vulnerable groups in the society with regard to minorities, with regard to children, with regard to harassment of women, I think these are issues which need to be tackled through this campaign of countering misinformation. So we are at your beck and call and thank you for taking this initiative.”
He said he had great hope especially from our younger generation, the Gen Z, the Gen Alpha, that together they can
defeat misinformation.
“And yes, facts can survive artificial intelligence. It is incumbent upon all social media platforms to ensure that AI is used responsibly, whether it is agri-tech, fintech, health tech, edtech, any form of technology where AI is being used,” he stressed.
Atta Tarar stressed the need to educate the younger generation for ethical use of the AI. “We need to educate all segments of society on how to use AI responsibly.”
He pointed to the collaborations with the UNDP, with IBA, with the Center for Excellence in Journalism and other bodies and especially media houses for addressing the issue of misinformation and ethical use of AI.
“All we need to do is get together and come up with a mechanism for effective implementation and get the facts out there to the people of the world at large, so that AI should not be misused for ulterior motives or to promote ideologies which are contradictory with our national policy, with regard to social norms especially.”