'ArrestAntiPakjournalists' tops Twitter trends in Pakistan

Shahzad Ahmed of Bytes for All says hashtag appeared to have been 'planted' by pro-PTI accounts

ISLAMABAD: A hashtag calling for the arrest of journalists briefly became the top Twitter trend in Pakistan Thursday.

The hashtag #ArrestAntiPakjournalists had dropped to second place by evening, but not before it had been used or forwarded more than 28,000 times.

Many users accompanied it with a composite photograph of prominent journalists and TV anchors, some of whom regularly criticise state authorities.

"These are the people who are responsible for chaos, anarchy, manipulation. They are the real enemy of the states," said one tweet.

"Hang them all #ArrestAntiPakJournalists," said another.

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Shahzad Ahmed, of digital rights group Bytes for All, said the hashtag appeared to have been "planted" by pro-PTI accounts and was not "genuine public opinion".

"There are organised groups who start such trends... which is a very dangerous phenomenon in our country, regarding freedom of expression and personal freedom," he said.

"Responsible use of social media is now becoming impossible in our country. Now we use social media, only to abuse others and to promote fake news and to disrespect each other, which is completely wrong."