For decades, public mobilisation followed a predictable path in Pakistan: political parties issued calls, clerics announced processions, and unions organised marches. The police relied on this structure for years — negotiating with leaders, planning routes, and anticipating escalation based on past patterns.

But crowds across the country no longer mobilise the way our institutions imagine them. That world is gone.

Today’s crowd forms inside a smartphone long before it appears on the street. A short video, an edited clip, a voice note, or a rumour forwarded through WhatsApp can spark movement faster than any political directive.

TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have become Pakistan’s real mobilisation engines. Their algorithms reward emotionally charged content — anger, outrage, victimhood, religious sentiment — and rapidly push it to millions.

Having commanded almost 11,861 public order operations in Lahore — including political protests, religious marches, Muharram and Ashura processions, and Independence Day crowds — one reality has become increasingly clear: the crowd forms digitally before it forms physically. By the time the first police unit arrives at a disturbance, the emotional ignition has already occurred online.

This is not traditional mobilisation. This is algorithmic mobilisation.

A telling example is the fabricated rape alert that circulated among students of the Punjab College for Women last year. It went instantly viral, triggering the mobilisation of thousands in major cities across the province.

In another instance, in October 2025, a pro-Palestine protest near Lahore’s Press Club initially remained peaceful before turning violent........

© Dawn Prism