FINALLY, Pakistan begins to shift focus towards businesses that are currently leading the World Order and have shaped the Glob as a Global Village and dramatically transformed the physical earnings into a Digital Arena.
The American Tech Giant Google agreed to open its Offices in Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has officially announced the registration of Google in its database as a Company, making way for other World’s leading Social Media Giants to follow the suit.
The credit for such optimistic development basically goes to the amendments that necessitates for Foreign Tech Companies to have their local offices in Pakistan in order to continue their operations in the country. So, Google becomes the first such Firm that registered itself with the SECP as in line with the “Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards) Rules, 2021”.
“TikTok will soon set up its Office in Pakistan. Companies remain reluctant due to the lack of trust and inconsistent policies,” Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque told media.
The good news is not over here, besides, the Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also made an important announcement following his meetings with officials from Meta, Facebook Mother Firm, in its Asia Pacific Headquarters in Singapore. “BIG NEWS for Pakistan from Meta in Singapore. From now on, Pakistani creators on Facebook can earn money from their content through the new Facebook stars feature,” he tweeted.
Meta describes Stars as a virtual good that lets fans show creators love and gives creators the ability to show love back. The Stars Universe is expanding from live broadcasts to multiple content types, including Reels, on-demand video, and more.
The development basically encouraged Pakistan to see Meta’s contribution in supporting local businesses and opening up different ways for local content creators to generate meaningful, reliable revenue on their Platforms. It’s expected that the Stars Program will create new opportunities to monetize and play a role in strengthening the country’s digital economy.
Following the above two big developments, the IT and Foreign Ministries now needs to deep their attentions towards encouraging other leading Global Companies like Microsoft, Twitter, Tiktok, Snapchat, Apple, Amazon etc. to have their local Offices established as soon as possible.
Doing so will not only compensate content creators at home but will also provide job opportunities to our youth having IT related education and experiences. Likewise, one of the ways such businesses can benefit the country is the Taxes wind up back in the country. Taxes paid by Global Giants end up paying for community improvements such as Education, Public Transit, and Health Care. Conversely, Taxes paid to big corporations, or when shopping Online, may not stay within the local circuit when they have no physical presence.
The most unfortunate behavior we have in our political circle is that successive government don’t follow the developmental and revolutionizing programs just due to the fear of point scoring and credit taking. To be genuine representatives of the people, political parties need to build unanimous consensus that mandate, for all governments one after another, the continuity of all initiatives in national and public interests.
Published in Daily Country News, December 11, 2022.