6,418 URLs blocked for fake news

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque on Friday said that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked 6,418 Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) involved in spreading fake news.

In a written reply to the question of Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi, he said that the URLs had been blocked following the complaints lodged by stakeholders, including organisations, general public and proactive search pertaining to spreading of fake news on social media.

He also said that PTA immediately received complaints, however, social media platforms usually do not entertain requests of regulators with reference to removal of defamatory content and encourage the users to directly report such issues.

Besides, they prefer direct communication with the complainants in order to seek relevant clarification, if any, for the purpose of effective resolution of the matter, he added.

He further said that social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, have been directed to put in place a proper strict mechanism so that the users are not able to easily create accounts until certain verifications/requirements are fulfilled by the account creator.

In the same context, social media platforms offer verification of accounts owned and operated by public figures, so as to prevent misuse of their credentials by miscreants, he added.

Sharing details of blocked sites, the minister said that 104 fake links of dailymotion were blocked from out of 107; 2,105 links of Facebook from out of 3,214;113 links of Instagram from out of 140; 1,401 links of others from out of 2,663 links of which the complaints were received; 46 links of Tik Tok were blocked from out of 50; 2,227 links of Twitter from out of 8,413; 422 links of YouTube from out of 857 were blocked.