Twitter to alert govt before suspending ‘official’ accounts – Pakistan

KARACHI: Two months after Pakistan specified around 200 accounts that were suspended by Twitter for publishing content on Kashmir, the government has made progress in its negotiations on the matter with the microblogging website.

In August, several users complained that their accounts or tweets were suspended or withheld for posting about events in Kashmir in India. The claim came from journalists, activists, government officials and military fans who tweeted in support of Kashmir's freedom. Simultaneously, #StopSuspendingPakistanis was trending on Twitter in Pakistan.

The government then specified about 200 accounts that were suspended, accusing the platform of helping India's quest to silence the cashmere and their supporters. The list of suspended accounts included Twitter management managed by some government officials.

In a letter dated August 19 written to Twitter's vice president of trust and security, Del Harvey, the president of the National IT Board, Shabahat Ali Shah, said Pakistan users were closed without warning or without warning.

He asked them to submit any "belligerent content" to the government's notice before suspending the account from which it was published.

He also asked Twitter to verify the accounts of government officials. “At least government accounts should not be suspended without prior notice to the authorities. The government will also document the content published through official channels and review the complaints filed against it, ”said Mr. Shah.

“After 2 months of effort, Twitter agrees to a new cadence. They will not suspend accounts verified by the government without prior notice and consultation with the PK government, ”Shah tweeted on Wednesday.

Following its announcement, several media reported that the platform had agreed that it would not suspend Pakistani accounts at all or without involving the government.

Speaking to Dawn, the president of NITB clarified his statement: "They only have [unofficially] agreed to alert us [government] on complaints received against official accounts or those specified by the Pakistani authorities. If you suspend / retain content it is still your decision. "

He pointed out that the "verbal" agreement with Twitter applied only to specific accounts and not to all Pakistani users.

Shah said he would make a list of official government orders, including spokespersons for ministers and other representatives, as well as some non-governmental accounts, such as NGOs, for which authorities are responsible.

"Once the list is sent to Twitter, we will be notified in the future, when and if, one of those accounts has violated Twitter's rules and policies. We still have to see what we can do once a Twitter warning is received. ”Said Mr. Shah.

For its part, Twitter has repeated, in correspondence with Dawn – maintained that it applies policies judiciously and guarantees the impartiality of all users, regardless of their political beliefs and their country of origin.

"We are trying to involve regional teams, but we cannot influence how they moderate the content because Twitter is not legally registered in Pakistan," said the NITB president, adding that he had urged Twitter to open an office in the country.

According to the Director of Bolo Bhi, the "warning" of Usama Khilji Twitter to the government before the accounts are suspended will not change the way the platform removes the content.

“Twitter removes the content under the guidelines of its community, so if there are tweets that violate it, the social media company would remove that content. Given that there is no mutual legal assistance treaty between the US. UU. Based on Twitter and Pakistan, the company is unlikely to sign a special agreement with the government. "

Posted on Dawn, October 10, 2019