On August 19, the government of Pakistan, in a letter to Twitter Vice President Trust and Safety Del Harvey, had said accounts of users from Pakistan were shut down without warning or prior notice. The letter further said that suspending such accounts had caused massive unrest, resentment and anger among the general public, and asked Twitter to amend their policy this regard.
Twitter will not Suspend Users Account in Pakistan without Alerting Them
Chairman of the National IT Board Shabahat Ali Shah met with Twitter officials recently in which important issues between the Twitter administration and the government of Pakistan were discussed. The government statement further revealed that Twitter will no longer unilaterally suspend the accounts of Pakistani users and will contact the government of Pakistan in case of any complaint beforehand. During the meeting, the issue of suppressing the voice of Pakistani Twitter users by Indians also came under discussion, in which Twitter officials were told that hundreds of Pakistani Twitter accounts were suspended for raising their voice for Kashmiris. Twitter officials were told that after India’s illegal annexation of occupied Kashmir, there had been an increase in Indian bullying through Twitter. Twitter said it will change the way accounts were suspended henceforth. Many Pakistani users had complained that Twitter had suspended or restricted their accounts when they expressed their support with the people of Indian occupied Kashmir. The platform was used by thousands of Pakistani and Kashmiri users to heap praise on Prime Minister Imran Khan for raising the Kashmir issue and exposing the Indian government’s policy of ethnic cleansing. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) had also raised the issue with the Twitter management to ensure freedom of expression, and the latter has given its consent not to take the decisions of blocking accounts unilaterally. The PTA had raised its concerns with the Twitter administration about the biased approach towards Pakistani Twitter users in strong words, according to the statement issued by the regulator, and has also requested Pakistani social media users to report any Twitter account suspended for supporting the cause of Kashmir’s freedom movement. Pakistan military spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had earlier announced that Pakistani authorities have taken up a case with Twitter and Facebook for suspending Pakistani social media accounts that posted messages in support of Kashmir. Recommended Read: Twitter Misused User’s Phone Numbers for Advertising Purposes
