Exploring the Interplay of Global Alliances Shaping Pakistani Investigative Journalism in Web 3.0 Era

Investigative journalism (IJ) is a vital accountability mechanism. While once the solitary craft of individual reporters, IJ now unfolds through cross-border collaborations that leverage Web 3.0’s decentralised technologies, AI-enabled data processing and verification, and network repositories. Nevertheless, IJ work remains challenged by powerful actors, limited newsroom resources, and restricted public information access in Pakistan. Guided by network centrality, platform logic and social media logic models, this study explores how global investigative hubs and modern technologies empower Pakistani journalists. Thirteen investigative reporters were interviewed. Findings show that domestic IJ practice is restricted by censorship challenges and the overt and covert pressure from state and non-state actors at micro- and macro-levels, inhibiting local collaboration. Transnational partnerships are facilitated by modern tools for collaboration, decentralised data storage and verification; however, the asymmetric relationship between high degree centrality journalists and the peripheral hubs hinders information flows and access to advanced collaborative resources, indicating a weak closeness centrality. Yet, global collaborations offer protective reputational cover, specialised datasets, and technical expertise to high centrality hubs in Pakistan. Big tech’s algorithmic content moderation at the macro-level, and their inconsistent digital platform policies, in compliance with the State requests at the micro-level, mute revelations.