ISLAMABAD: The caretaker government on Monday identified more than 500 accounts involved in anti-judiciary campaign on social media.

This was said by the caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, in a press conference alongside Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials.

He assured that action would be taken against those involved in the recent malicious campaign against Supreme Court judges, in accordance with the law and constitution.

JIT constituted to investigate anti-judiciary drive

While referring to the Supreme Court’s judgement which took the electoral symbol of “cricket bat” away from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the information minister said after the apex court’s ruling, a vile campaign was launched against the judiciary and judges.

He said following that a joint investigation team was formed against the unabated social media campaign and the JIT was doing its work. The Interior Ministry notified the JIT on January 16 to investigate the matter, he added. The minister said, “Article 19 of the Constitution has a boundary for freedom of speech. Some people have business of spreading lies in their vlogs.”

The PTA official said the PTA had the authority to remove content from social media. Hence, their fundamental job in such a situation was to block the internet and delete the objectionable content, he said. “Social media’s outreach is enormous and easy but people do not know how to use it wisely,” he said.

FIA Cybercrime Director Operations Waqaruddin Syed while giving a warning to all those “spreading lies” through social media said that they would take action against those “spreading anarchy” against the state or its institutions. The FIA director said they would take action against the social media accounts involved in the said smear campaign whether being operated from within the country or outside it. “We will fully utilise the authority assigned to us,” he maintained.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024

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