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PTI denies access to PM Office’s Twitter handle to PML-N govt: sources

New government has to create a new Twitter handle for the PM Office to provide information to the people, say sources

By Ayaz Akbar Yousafzai
April 12, 2022
Screengrabs of old and new Twitter handles of Prime Minister Office.
Screengrabs of old and new Twitter handles of Prime Minister Office.

ISLAMABAD: Newly elected Shahbaz Sharif-led government has to face difficulties as it was not handed over the control of various digital assets, including the PM Office’s official Twitter handle, by the previous government, revealed well-placed sources on Tuesday.

The new government has to create a new Twitter handle — @PMO_PK — for the PM Office to provide information to the people as the PTI had denied access to the digital media assets of the state.

It is pertinent to mention here that the digital assets are owned by the Government of Pakistan.

The PM Office’s previous official Twitter account, @PakPMO, was managed by the Digital Media Wing of the information ministry headed by Imran Ghazali. The account has 3.5 million followers.

After the removal of the PTI government, the account was archived and renamed “Prime Minister's Office (Aug'18 - Apr'22) Archived”.

Digital archiving policy

Giving his input about the digital archiving policy, former PM’s focal person on digital media, Dr Arsalan Khalid told Geo.tv that the official social media handles are “state’s property” and are attached with “.gov emails”.

He further added that these accounts will follow the US archiving format.