THE Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Communications, Hon. Marsh Narewec, has assured the country that democracy remains vibrant and strong. This was after the Committee issues 24 hours summons to the
Commissioner of Police, the CEO of NICTA and the Secretary for DICT to brief the Committee on the recent shut down of Facebook and the operation of the Counter Terrorism Act 2024.
The Committee was concerned about the conflicting reports regarding the shutdown of Facebook resulting in NICTA CEO and Minister ICT having no knowledge of the shut down by the Police, The Committee was also concerned about the lack of coordination among these agencies.
The Committee found that;
- 1. The Committee noted that Anonymous users on Facebook were inciting threats and violence that triggered the police to invoke section 16 of the Counter Terrorism Act, the undertaking was lawful under the Counter – Terrorism As 2024.
2. The Committee also found that there is no regulation or standard operating procedure to execute the new Counter – Terrorism Act. Because there was no regulation or standard operating procedure the NICTA CEO and ICT Minister were not aware of the shut down. The COP was also under no obligation under the CTA to inform NICTA or DICT.
3. The Committee found that the shut down was a temporary restriction on mobile operators rather than a complete ban and there was no sophisticated technology used but a direction using the CTA by COP to mobile service providers to temporarily shut down Facebook on their network.
4. The Committee noted that the proposed digital ID project and the Social Media policy under the DICT are the way forward to regulate Facebook but the project and the policy has been under funded up to now.
Committee Views and Directiv
1. The Committee has directed the DICT Secretary to take charge of policy matters in the ICT sector by working with NICTA and RPNGC to come up with a Regulation for the Counter – Terrorist Act 2024 as way for executing the Act and Collaboration among different line agencies.
2. The Committee has directed DICT to fast tract Digital ID Project and the Social Media Policy.
3. The Committee has called upon the Treasury Department to release funding for the Digital ID project and the Social Media Policy as way to counter fake news, misinformation, cyber bullying, cyber harassment and cybercrime on the social media space.
4. The Committee has called for the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Information Communication and Technology to fast tract the PNGs accession to the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crime by getting Cabinet approval and bringing the submission to the Parliament for endorsement in the next Parliament sitting in May.
The Committee has explicitly stated that it will not support any ban on social media including total ban or partial ban we must find other means to regulate social media properly without impeding on free speech.
The Committee has called for the different agencies in the ICT sector to work in collaboration and have regular consultation.
The Committee will continue to provide the oversight in the work of the line agencies including, Police Cyber – Crime Unit, NICTA and DICT and to make sure that the relevant laws are working for the people and not against them. We will
closely monitor the execution of the Counter – Terrorist Act 2024 with respect to its enforcement in the Communications Space.