'Blocked accounts not controlled by Pakistan military'

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has reportedly approached Facebook to express its reservations over  the social media giant's  claims to  block accounts linked to  military. 

The military sources said the blocked accounts were not controlled by ISPR and to call them "ISPR-managed" was disappointing. They added that Facebook had itself admitted that no questionable content was shared from the accounts.

According to reports aired by local TV channels, ISPR not only denied backing or employing the people behind the removed pages, accounts and groups but also questioned Facebook claims that the military was behind those accounts.

ISPR also raised questions over Facebook’s act of removing accounts highlighting the Kashmir issue and supporting Pakistan’s armed forces’s struggle.

The military’s media wing also urged the social media giant to open its office in Pakistan for “better understanding of the situation” on ground.

Facebook had made the announcement on April 1 and had said that the 24 pages, 57 accounts and 7 groups removed on Facebook had more than 2.8 million followers.

“Today we removed 103 pages, Groups and accounts for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour on Facebook and Instagram as part of a network that originated in Pakistan,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity, had said in a statement released on April 1, adding that they were linked to ISPR.