PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought report from provincial government about use of social media applications by government officers including districts administrative heads for their publicity.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal ordered that the director of Performance Management and Reforms Unit (PMRU) in the chief secretary office should also provide details about uploading videos of students of Swabi Women University by Swabi deputy commissioner on Tiktok application after he had visited the university.

The bench fixed July 10 for next hearing of a petition filed by a citizen Mohammad Mehtab, challenging uploading of video footages of female students allegedly by the deputy commissioner from his Tiktok account.

The bench directed that PMRU should also make some standard operating procedures (SOPs) for government officers about running social media accounts and should submit the report within 10 days.

Petitioner has moved court against uploading of female students’ videos on TikTok by Swabi DC

Advocate Mohammad Hamdan appeared for the petitioner and stated that the said deputy commissioner had visited sports gala at Swabi Women University (SWU) and made videos of female students.

He claimed that after editing multiple video clips, the same was shared with objectionable songs through social media account of the deputy commissioner on Tiktok on Feb 21, 2025, which was in disregard to social norms and local code of life there.

He argued that videos of students couldn’t be shared on social media without their permission.

He stated that government had given permission to officers to share information on social media applications of Facebook and X (former Twitter) through official accounts for public awareness, but officers had been running personal accounts on Tiktok and sharing videos therein without permission of relevant persons.

He argued that a government servant was not allowed to use Tiktok application as it had been affecting privacy of people.

The counsel requested the bench to stop the said DC from making video clips of citizens anywhere, editing and uploading the same on social media. He further requested the court to issue blocking of the said social media account on Tiktok and to remove objectionable video clips.

Justice Arshad Ali wondered how a government officer could indulge in personal promotion through his private account.

A deputy director of PMRU appeared before the bench. The bench observed that the unit had issued a notification for setting up government accounts on social media, but in the light of the said notification officers had been running their personal accounts.

Justice Ali pointed out that few days ago there was a case about use of derogatory language by a district police officer (DPO) against a civil judge on social media.

The bench observed that accounts should only be for official work and not for personal propagation.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2025