ISLAMABAD – Facebook transparency report negates media propaganda ofcurbing press freedom against PTI government in Pakistan.
Facebook has released its latest transparency report, which mentions thePakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) efforts to protect socialmedia and internet users from harmful content online.
Recent media reports had mentioned that PTA had tried to silence dissent orlimit online freedom under the cybercrime legislation, which is untrue.
PTA’s requests for content restriction were related to blasphemy,indecency, pornography, defamation, impersonation, and anti-state content,etc.
PTA has been mandated to block/remove such unlawful content hosted on theinternet under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA 2016). Sincethese requests were also in accordance with Facebook’s community standards,they were accepted by the social media company.
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As far as fake news is concerned, both PTA and Facebook recognize that fakenews is a challenging and sensitive issue. PTA is proactively working todiscourage fake news while Facebook is doing its part by removing anonymousaccounts and pages that spread fake news or propaganda.
Therefore, it is incorrect to assume from Facebook’s report that local lawswere used to silence dissent or limit online freedom as mentioned in themedia reports.
PTA supports freedom of speech & expression as granted in the Constitutionof Pakistan, in accordance with relevant laws.
