Google to open office in Pakistan next week
ISLAMABAD: Google, the largest search engine and video-sharing platform in the world is planning to start a liaison office in Pakistan. However, Twitter and Facebook have stated they can’t open offices in Pakistan in the near future.
According to an announcement made on Friday by IT and Telecom Minister Syed Aminul Haque, the global giant has already registered itself as a corporation in Pakistan.
“A delegation of Google is scheduled to come to Pakistan early next week from Singapore and the company will likely announce the establishment of a functional office here,” Mr. Haque told news sources.
He also revealed TikTok’s agreement to open a liaison office in Pakistan.
Google, however, has already grabbed the lead in this area and the company is already registered with the Karachi registry of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
One of the prerequisites under the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight, and Safeguards) Rules 2021 is registration, which is the initial step toward opening the office.
After registering and setting up offices, social media networks must adhere to Pakistani laws and regulations.
To safeguard the security of the data, the guidelines also mandate that social media companies keep their “servers” in Pakistan. All platforms’ data is currently kept outside of the nation.
The IT minister recently voiced hope that other social media companies would open operations in Pakistan, but according to industry sources, Twitter and Meta have so far shown hesitation.
A senior executive of one of the nation’s telecom firms claimed that both Twitter and Meta were going through drastic organizational changes and had let go of a significant number of staff members locally and abroad.
“The members of negotiating teams for Pakistan in Meta, representing Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have been changed, therefore no headway is expected in discussions with Meta and Twitter,” the executive also said.
Google to open office in Pakistan next week
Other sources in the telecom industry said that despite assurances by the IT ministry regarding a business-friendly environment, the inconsistent policies have led to mistrust among the companies and they were hesitant to establish offices in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday visited the Asia Pacific headquarters of Meta (Facebook), Singapore to launch the “Stars Programme” for monetization in Pakistan.
The programme will contribute to the capacity building of young entrepreneurs for Pakistan’s growing number of Meta content developers.
