Lahore, September 2025 — In a landmark decision addressing the regulation of online streaming services, the Lahore High Court has declared that Pakistan’s film censorship laws cannot be extended to global digital platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and similar content providers. The ruling effectively dismisses a petition filed by a private cinema operator seeking to apply decades-old censorship rules to internet-based platforms.
The detailed 20-page judgment, authored by Justice Raheel Kamran, clarified that the petition had been filed by a private company that already holds a license to screen films in cinemas. The petitioner argued that under the Motion Pictures Ordinance of 1979, all films and visual content — whether displayed in cinemas or online — should fall under regulatory scrutiny and be subject to censorship before being made available to the public.
However, the court rejected this argument, noting that the 1979 Ordinance was a pre-digital era law specifically designed to regulate films screened in traditional cinemas. The purpose of that law was to ensure that films intended for public exhibition in theaters were censored beforehand to safeguard public morality and social values. Since Netflix, Amazon, and other online streaming services did not exist at the time, the Ordinance cannot automatically be applied to them.
The judgment further highlighted that after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, censorship has become a provincial matter, and each province has enacted its own Motion Pictures Act. Yet, none of the provincial legislations currently extend their scope to cover social media platforms, streaming services, or online content distribution. In other words, the legal framework in Pakistan has not yet evolved to regulate digital platforms the same way it does traditional cinemas.
The court also observed the impracticality of applying censorship to streaming platforms. Services like Netflix and Amazon host millions of hours of content from across the globe, making it virtually impossible to censor every movie, series, or documentary prior to its release. Attempting to regulate such vast content libraries under existing laws would not only be unrealistic but also technically unfeasible.
In its ruling, the court made clear that while the petitioner’s concerns might be genuine, their request to extend the Motion Pictures Ordinance to online platforms had no legal basis. The law, in its current form, is limited in scope and cannot be stretched to cover technologies and platforms that did not exist when the legislation was drafted.
The judgment concluded by emphasizing the urgent need for new legislation tailored to the digital age. It noted that the regulation of online streaming platforms remains outside the jurisdiction of existing censorship frameworks, and if the state wishes to regulate such platforms, fresh laws will have to be introduced by Parliament or provincial assemblies.
This ruling is significant because it formally acknowledges the limitations of outdated laws in governing today’s rapidly changing digital environment. It also highlights the broader challenges governments face worldwide in trying to regulate online platforms that transcend borders, operate across multiple jurisdictions, and provide content on demand to millions of users.
For Pakistan, the decision signals that streaming platforms will remain outside the purview of traditional censorship boards unless comprehensive new legislation is drafted. Until then, platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video will continue to operate under their existing self-regulation policies, which are influenced more by global standards than local censorship practices.
Legal analysts believe this verdict could pave the way for broader debates on digital regulation in Pakistan. As internet penetration increases and streaming platforms grow in popularity, lawmakers may eventually be forced to address the issue through modern legislation that balances freedom of expression, cultural sensitivities, and the technical realities of digital content delivery.
For now, the Lahore High Court has made it clear: Pakistan’s current censorship laws do not extend to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or any other global online streaming platforms.
