Pakistan takes up suspension of accounts 'posting in support of Kashmir' with Twitter, Facebook
Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, through his personal Twitter account, on Sunday said that Pakistani authorities have taken up with Twitter and Facebook the alleged suspension of Pakistani social media accounts posting in support of Kashmir.
"Pakistan authorities have taken up the case with Twitter and Facebook against suspending Pakistani accounts for posting in support of Kashmir. Indian staff at their regional headquarters is the reason," he said.
He also invited social media users to share information about accounts that have been suspended.
Ghafoor's statement comes as #StopSuspendingPakistanis was trending on Twitter in Pakistan. Over the last one week, multiple Pakistanis have taken to Twitter to report that accounts were being suspended after they posted about Kashmir.
Read: '#RedForKashmir': Social media users show solidarity with citizens of the occupied valley
Earlier this week, an Express Tribune correspondent's Twitter account was suspended after he responded to a tweet from Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
According to ET, Indian government officials have admitted, on social media, to putting pressure on Twitter to suspend accounts tweeting in favour of Kashmir and against the Indian occupation regime.
Facebook has the greatest number of fact checking partners in India, followed by the United States, according to the Poynter Institute. The numbers, Poynter said, are a reflection of where the majority of Facebook's users are situated. There are 250 million Indian Facebook users.
According to Facebook, the following organisations have partnered with the social media giant for fact checking purposes in India:
- AFP India
- Boom
- Fact Crescendo
- Factly
- India Today Fact Check
- Newsmobile Fact Checker
- The Quint
- Vishvas.News
Facebook, however, has only partner in Pakistan as mentioned on its website: AFP Pakistan.
Read more: How social media has become a war zone for competing narratives
A recent report published by Access Now ─ an international non-profit advocacy group dedicated to an open and free internet ─ on global internet shutdowns stated that India was responsible for a majority (67 per cent) of the 196 internet shutdowns documented across the world last year.
