After much hubbub, the general election in Pakistan is scheduled to transpire on 08 February 2024. The legislative assemblies were dissolved before their constitutionally stipulated times, appearing to be cunctative tactics to evade timely elections. The country is, nevertheless, in the midst of farrago of insuperable maladies gnawing fair elections. Social media emerges as a crutch to parade propaganda. Each political party vies to outshine the other in presenting the content more riveting to that of other’s.

The ills of social media culminate with the deployment of Al tool, deep fake technology, assailing fair conduct of elections. The recent incidents of publication of an article and the following video of Imran Khan showcase the dexterity of Al tool in facsimileing a human. A question is invoked: how such an incident may happen while a person of a higher political stature languishes in jail. Also, there is no gainsay that we can confront a video message from any of the state representatives, making announcement of any of the state affairs but all actuated by deep fake technology. And, with this technology bearing no rules and regulations of operation, unscrupulous and heart-fluttering material may well reign social media in the days to come.

Adding salt to the injury, it is palpable to see that each political party holds a number of social media accounts, instituting people different kind of information: irrespective of accuracy of information and appropriateness of language. Such exercises are meant to galvanize public support, however. The race of employing Al tools is improbable to end in view of grimness of issues confronting Pakistan. Public woes on the other hand continue to be in limbo. Rise in external debt crops up each day. And, the reserves lose the strength to be sufficient for running the state affairs. The ongoing political stunts sound off-key, raising question as to whether such gimmicks suit in these reduced circumstances.

However, unsoundness comes from the kitsch stunts of politics, there does not appear any imminent dip in such tawdry stunts. The need hereby arises to address these disservices of social media, posing to be the last resort of political parties for their failure in settling public agonies. Recently, the caretaker government has constituted a committee to probe the campaign spattering judiciary. The ambit of this fact-finding body must not be restricted to tracing the smear campaign against judiciary. The ambit of this fact-finding committee must be expanded to scrutinizing social media platform bruiting disinformation and furor. What comes on the heel of fact-finding and envisioning other penal steps to take is sensibility to be abided by.

—The writer is pursuing his bachelors in law, based in Gujranwala.

Email: [email protected]

views expressed are writer’s own.