Tag: journalists

  • ‘Worst clampdown on freedom of expression,’ rights groups regret PTI’s social media laws

    ‘Worst clampdown on freedom of expression,’ rights groups regret PTI’s social media laws

    Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFU), lawyers and civil society members have decided to launch a nationwide movement for getting trashed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, DAWN reported.

    Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club on Thursday, the journalists’ union, lawyers, and civil society termed the government’s notified rules unacceptable, and demanded that the government revoked them.

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    Members of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) and Media Matters for Democracy attended the presser.

    READ: Pakistan secures four-months to comply with FATF agenda

    Many prominent journalists were of the view that these rules exceeded the mandate given by the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. In addition, they all said the regulation was a clampdown on online content as the final extreme in the series of restrictions on freedom of expression as well as press freedom in the country.

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    They, however, appreciated Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s statement regarding having consultation with all stakeholders before enforcing the rules.

  • Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    In a surprising tech twist, Twitter announces that it is testing new ways to limit online abuse and will allow users to control who can reply to their tweets.

    Kayvon Beykpour, VP of product at Twitter revealed the plan at a conference in Las Vegas saying that, “the primary motivation is control…We want to build on the theme of authors getting more control, ” reports TechCrunch.

    Twitter will be experimenting with different options on who can reply and how much control to give the author of a tweet.

    The most private option would prevent anyone from replying to a tweet and users can select who they want to reply to their tweet. Other options include in limiting replies to people mentioned in the tweet or followers only.

    WATCH: PTI’s supporter Dr. Farhan Virk reveals why his Twitter account was deactivated

    It is unclear when this option will be released.

    Many Pakistani journalists, especially female anchors, have complained about on-going abuse on Twitter.

    Watch what anchor Gharidah Faruqi had to say when asked about being heavily trolled online in this The Current Life interview.