Asad Baig, Media Matters for Democracy (in-person)
Mahim Maher, Aaj TV (via videoconferencing)

The session will analyze Big Tech’s takeover of digital advertising spend in South Asian markets like Pakistan, where 85% of digital revenue is pocketed by Google and Meta with little to no prospect of revenue generation through paywalling of content. The discussion will focus on ideas for alternative revenue streams, address challenges such as promotion of revenue generation through subscription, and examine Big Tech’s profiteering from monetization of disinformation. It will highlight the formation of the Pakistan Digital Editor Alliance (PDEA), an initiative to help newsrooms minimize their increasing reliance on Meta and Google in Pakistan. The session will be based primarily on MMfD’s recently published research.