Pakistan government has claimed that they have reached a ‘verbal agreement’ with micro-blogging company Twitter that the latter shall not suspend pre-approved accounts on Twitter. Following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, Twitter had suspended over 200 Pakistani accounts for hateful conduct and abuse of Twitter as platform. Moreover, Twitter had suspended over 50 accounts from Pakistan for impersonating Indian Army officers.
According to Shabahat Ali Khan, CEO, National IT Board, Pakistan, Twitter has agreed that it will not suspend government-approved accounts without prior intimation and consultation with Pakistan government.
After 2 months effort, Twitter agrees on a new cadence. They will not suspend govt verified accounts without prior intimation and consultation with PK government.@NationalITBoard @ImranKhanPTI @pid_gov@arslankhalid_m pic.twitter.com/vG9C5sBi7k
— Shabahat Ali Shah (@ShabahatAShah) October 9, 2019
According to reports, the Pakistan Army had hired more than 200 handlers to make sleeper account on Twitter impersonating top officials of Indian Army in order to spread its fake propaganda with an aim to malign India. India Army which has been keeping a close watch on the nefarious activities of Pakistani agencies informed Twitter and other social media platforms about these fake accounts, following which Twitter blocked over 50 bogus accounts.
Following the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan has indulged in social media warfare. The not-so-friendly neighbour country has used the social media platform to spread fear and rumours about the situation prevalent in the valley. Days after the Article 370 was abrogated, a pro-separatist Twitter account (@WithKashmir_), also believed to be operated by Pakistani’s ISI and army, was found sharing maliciously edited video of Republic TV’s editor Arnab Goswami. An old video of Arnab Goswami from February 2019 in the wake of Pulwama attack was promoted by that Twitter handle and spread by many Indian ‘journalists’ to project that Arnab had asked for the genocide of Kashmiris. After Republic TV threatened legal action, the account was deleted.
The CRPF and Jammu & Kashmir Police had both on separate incidents called out Pakistan’s lies and propaganda on social media which were being spread through accounts which were verified by Twitter and had blue ticks. Pakistani journalists and politicians have indulged in sharing fake news regarding the situation in Kashmir.
