Pak approaches FB, Twitter over suspension of accounts posting about Kashmir

Islamabad: Pakistan Army on Sunday said the authorities have taken up the issue of suspension of some Twitter and Facebook accounts posting about the Kashmir issue with the social media giants.

Four Twitter handles were suspended for allegedly spreading anti-India propaganda on Jammu and Kashmir following a request by security agencies, Indian officials said in New Delhi on Monday this week.

Four more social media accounts are expected to be blocked soon for allegedly being engaged in similar activities, they had said.

Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor on Sunday tweeted, "Pakistan authorities have taken up case with Twitter & Facebook against suspending Pakistani accounts for posting in support of Kashmir." He said the reason behind the suspension of social media accounts was Indian employees working at the regional headquarters of Facebook and Twitter. "Indian staff at their regional Headquarters is the reason (for suspension of the accounts)," Ghafoor said, urged people to post information about accounts suspended by the two social networking sites.

Facebook has the greatest number of fact checking partners in India, followed by the US, according to the Poynter Institute, a non-profit journalism school and research organisation located in Florida.

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 for posting about Kashmir.