ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tele­communication Authority (PTA) has clarified that it forwards requests for suspension of Facebook accounts based on the latter’s community standards.

The PTA said in a statement on Tuesday that it made requests to suspend accounts related to blasphemy, pornography, impersonation and indecent, defamatory and anti-state content.

“These efforts are (aimed) to protect social media and internet users from harmful content available online,” it said, adding that the PTA has been mandated to block/remove such unlawful content hosted on the internet under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

Recently, Facebook released its report that over 2,203 posts or videos have been blocked in Pakistan for allegedly violating local laws, which is the highest number of content restrictions for any country from January to June 2019.

The total restrictions during this period were around 15,337 items and up to 14 per cent of them came from Pakistan. The PTA dispelled the perception that political posts have been the target of restrictions and said that fake news was recognised by it as well as Facebook as a challenging and sensitive issue.

“It is incorrect to assume on the basis of the Facebook report that local laws were used to silence dissent or limit online freedom as mentioned in media reports,” the PTA said, adding that it supported the freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan, in accordance with relevant laws.

“Both PTA and Facebook are working in various ways to reduce the spread of fake news, including removal of anonymous accounts and pages that spread fake news or propaganda,” the PTA said.

Meanwhile, an official of Facebook dismissed the reports that political elements and media were constrained at the behest of state establishment.

However, the contents blocked by Facebook included anti-judiciary content and those related to condemnation of the country’s independence.

He said Facebook had a policy to discourage fake news not only targeting the institutions or organisations but also against individuals.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2019