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PTA asks Twitter to block handles targeting Pakistan, its cities and institutions

The PTA said that it has asked Twitter's administration to block accounts involved in the smear campaign against Pakistan

By Web Desk
October 22, 2020
In this file photo, the logo of Twitter can be seen on a mobile phone. — AFP/Files

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has asked Twitter's administration to  block all handles running a smear campaign against Pakistan and its institutions.

"The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has approached Twitter administration to immediately sensitize its moderation teams and ensure that the platform is not used as a propaganda tool for spreading fake information," read a statement by the authority on Thursday.

The authority has asked the micro-blogging site to take "immediate action against accounts spreading false information against Pakistan".

The PTA said that it has asked Twitter's administration to block accounts involved in the smear campaign against Pakistan, its cities and institutions.

The regulator noted that a lot of the accounts involved in spreading lies and misinformation about Pakistan were verified ones.

"To the disappointment of the Regulator, number of accounts involved in propagation of untrue stories, are Twitter verified. However, they are still operating with immunity. PTA has asked the platform to take immediate action against such accounts as per its guidelines and policies," read the PTA's statement.

Indian media ridiculed widely for outlandish stories about 'civil war' in Karachi

Statement by the PTA comes a couple of days after various established Indian media outlets were found peddling fake news about an imaginary civil war in Karachi.

Perhaps getting a little carried away by the goings-on in Pakistan's biggest port city, Indian media manufactured an entire civil war complete with pitched gun battles between rival forces, bombings and an imaginary area in Karachi called, quite ridiculously, 'Gulshan-e-Bagh' (the two words mean the same thing in Urdu, like 'naan bread' and 'chai tea').