Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Wednesday that crackdown has been launched to prevent misuse of social media after a committee of the Senate expressed serious concerns on ongoing derogatory campaign against politicians.
A meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet met with Senator Talha Mehmood to know from the FIA and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) whether they have noticed the campaign against politicians and if so, what measures have been taken by them against those who have been involved in derogatory and fake campaigns on social media against politicians.
The committee also directed FIA to take very strong action against those involved in blasphemy and spreading obscene material on social media. The FIA said that crackdown has been launched to prevent misuse of social media, while cases are being registered under the Cyber Crime Act and strong action is being taken against the responsible persons.
While briefing the committee, the PTA officials stated that focal persons of WhatsApp, Facebook, Daily Motion and Youtube are in contact with PTA.
They have been provided guidelines according to which the action is being taken against those who are uploading fake and incorrect material on social media, the officials added.
The committee was also told that social media control act provides three year punishment and Rs 10 million fine for the people involved in the derogatory and fake campaigns. The FIA and other law enforcement agencies (LEA) are cooperating with one another.
The members of the committee expressed their annoyance and stated that practice of blackmailing of known people through fake social media accounts should be stopped now.
They constituted a committee with officials from FIA, Law Ministry, Ministry of Information, PTA and Cyber Crime to suggest proposals to prevent misuse of social media, saying even if required, approval of the Parliament can be taken to make changes in the laws.
The committee was also told that there are 3.5 million Facebook users and there are unlimited powers with the PTA and FIA to control the misuse of social media and since 2012, 825,000 sites have been blocked.
The chairman of the committee also emphasized the need for availability of cellular network for promotion of tourism in the country. The tourism facilities can be improved considerably in far-flung areas with the availability of cellular phone facilities.
He stated that that cell phone companies need to ensure quality network in Gilgit-Baltistan and northern areas because the number of visitors is increasing considerably. Other members stated that there are various localities in Balochistan where facility of mobile phone network does not exist.
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