Tag: twitter

  • Social media giant X faces lawsuit for allegedly assisting Saudi Arabia in human rights abuses

    Social media giant X faces lawsuit for allegedly assisting Saudi Arabia in human rights abuses

    The social media giant formerly known as Twitter, now referred to as X, faces a revised civil lawsuit in the US that accuses it of aiding Saudi Arabia in committing severe human rights violations against its users. This includes allegations of disclosing confidential user data to Saudi authorities at a significantly higher rate than for other countries such as the US, UK, or Canada. 

    According to The Guardian, the lawsuit was originally filed in May by Areej al-Sadhan, the sister of a Saudi aid worker who was forcibly disappeared and later sentenced to 20 years in prison. The case revolves around the infiltration of Twitter by three Saudi agents, two of whom posed as Twitter employees in 2014 and 2015. This infiltration led to the arrest of al-Sadhan’s brother, Abdulrahman, and the exposure of the identities of thousands of anonymous Twitter users, some of whom were reportedly detained and tortured as part of the Saudi government’s crackdown on dissent. 

    The updated lawsuit alleges that Twitter, under the leadership of then-CEO Jack Dorsey, knowingly ignored or had knowledge of the Saudi government’s campaign to identify critics but provided assistance due to financial considerations and its close ties to the Saudi government, a major investor in the company. 

    The lawsuit highlights how Twitter was initially seen as a tool for democratic movements during the Arab Spring, which raised concerns for the Saudi government as early as 2013. 

    These allegations come shortly after Human Rights Watch criticised a Saudi court for sentencing a man to death solely based on his Twitter and YouTube activity. The convicted individual, Muhammad al-Ghamdi, had minimal online presence and was accused of having two accounts with a few followers and tweets, both containing retweets of government critics. 

    The lawsuit claims that Twitter was aware of security risks related to insider access to personal data and ignored red flags. It also alleges that Saudi authorities filed emergency disclosure requests with Twitter to obtain user identity information, often approved promptly. 

    Between July and December 2015, Twitter allegedly granted information requests to Saudi Arabia more frequently than to other countries, including Canada, the UK, Australia, and Spain. 

    Despite becoming aware of FBI concerns about Saudi infiltration, Twitter continued to engage with Saudi Arabia as a crucial regional partner. CEO Jack Dorsey even met with Mohammed bin Salman about six months after the FBI raised the issue. 

    The lawsuit ultimately seeks justice for Areej al-Sadhan’s brother, Abdulrahman, and aims to hold Twitter accountable for its alleged complicity in human rights abuses. 

  • Mariam Ansari is not okay with holier-than-thou comments on her pregnancy shoot

    Mariam Ansari is not okay with holier-than-thou comments on her pregnancy shoot

    Kuch behtar nahi hai apni zindagi mein karne kay liye than to think that a happy pregnant woman is doing something wrong with her life?

    Pakistanis are used to watching unhappy women both on screens and in their lives. When they watch a woman celebrating a pregnancy or being happy in her marriage, they see it as a sign that she needs to be reminded of how miserable life actually is.

    When actress Mariam Ansari shared pictures of her pregnancy shoot announcing the birth of her daughter, several commentators were overjoyed and congratulated the couple. Then there were those who thought qayamat has started early because a woman shared her baby bump on the internet.

    There were A LOT of absurd comments shaming the actress for sharing pictures of her baby bump, a normal thing every woman goes through. Like this one cynic wrote:

    “Allah ko kia muh Deko ge behn Kuch cheze prde mei ache lgte he tm log ku apna Deen khrb kr rhe ho behaye phla rhe ho kuch shrm kro Allah se dro.”

    Pregnancy is a natural, beautiful thing that happens to every woman, baji. Wo kya gunah kar rahi hai kay wo isko chupa kar rakhay?

    Mariam eventually responded with a video where she slammed the haters in a video, expressing her frustration at the unnecessary hate piled on to her for simply sharing pictures of her baby bump:

     “Oh my god, the amount of hate I have received on my pregnancy pictures just shows…what do I even say? What do I say?”

     “It’s my profile; my choice. I’ve even had my child. It’s my choice whatever I post. If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t follow me. I don’t understand, since when is being pregnant some sort of badtameezi or behayai. You too were born just like this, so what?”

    The actress also pointed out how hypocrtical Pakistani society was:

     “You’ll watch Katrina Kaif dance, you’ll ‘like’ Nora’s pictures. But if a Pakistani actress who is fully dressed reveals her pregnancy, then, ‘oh my god, Astaghfirullah.’ I mean, if you were really all that great and you saw someone was pregnant, you’d congratulate them; you’d send prayers their way.”

    Sending our prayers and congratulations to Mariam and her husband for their bundle of joy, and honestly we hope Pakistani society could learn some manners and stop poking their hypocritical noses into anyone’s business.

  • Pakistani BTS fans are honouring Jungkook in the most adorable way possible

    Pakistani BTS fans are honouring Jungkook in the most adorable way possible

    Happy birthday Jungkook!

    The baby of the Korean pop band ‘BTS’ is 26 years old today and fans across the world, including Pakistan, are celebrating in creative ways. The singer released his solo ‘Seven’ feat Lattoo that took the world by storm, including Pakistan.

    A fan won hearts in July when she plastered posters promoting ‘Seven’ all over Gulistan-e-Johar in Karachi proving that Pakistani fans are super dedicated to the ‘Golden maknae’.

    READ MORE: Gulistan-e-BTS: Karachi K-pop fan plasters neighborhood with Jung Kook pictures

    Last year, BTS fans pulled all stops to make sure that the entire country celebrated Jung Kook’s birthday along with them, including setting up a birthday ad in Bahawalpur and Multan, and then a medical camp in Lahore offering free medication.

    This time, the fans have been working hard to ensure that their baby girl’s special day is celebrated with joy, as we take a look at some of the elaborate projects the fan base has organised, and honestly we love how caring and dedicated this fanbase is to their icon.

    The BTS Twitter account Pk_bts_land announced a project was set up to raise funds and provide education to children from poor families across Pakistan, along with the account details.

    In Quetta, a medical camp was announced by the page Jungkook_Pakistan to provide free services to people in need.

    Happy birthday Jungkook! In celebration of today, we’ll continue dancing to Seven!

  • SRK hasn’t forgiven his son’s imprisonment and here is proof

    SRK hasn’t forgiven his son’s imprisonment and here is proof

    Mess with the scorpio, earn the sting.

    If history has proven something, its that SRK will always get the last word.

    Recently, the official trailer of the action/thriller ‘Jawan’ was released on Youtube. A clip from the trailer has generated a lot of buzz. Right when the clip credits Gauri Khan as the producer of the film, Shah Rukh can be heard saying, ‘Betay ko hath lagane se pehlay baap say baat karo.”

    As soon as the clip was noticed by social media, netizens applauded the burn, praising SRK for aiming the stinger directly at the people responsible for his son Aryan’s arrest.

  • Cousin love triangles, beef nihari: here are the things Twitter thinks were invented in Pakistan

    Cousin love triangles, beef nihari: here are the things Twitter thinks were invented in Pakistan

    Can you think of things that never existed any where and were solely invented in Pakistan? A Twitter user decided to hilariously challenge their followers into revealing something that Pakistan has created all on its own. From Babar Azam to hilarious memes, we got some killer responses!

    The GOAT: paratha rolls

    OUCH.

    People are begging Game Of Thrones to release a spin-off, but yahan par hum ne iski 67th version of the Lannister love affair bana liya hai.

    https://twitter.com/madam__koko/status/1697150726303027512?s=20

    True waisay.

    Yuppp

    Ye tou humara aik he symbol of hope hai.

  • Five times ‘Fairytale’ Season Two was a gooey mess of wholesomeness

    Five times ‘Fairytale’ Season Two was a gooey mess of wholesomeness

    The second season of the popular drama ‘Fairy Tale’ arrived on our screens after a five month break, and this time the production delivered an empowering, wholesome story revolving around Farjaad and Umeed. If during the last season fans had to deal with the slow burn of the two settling their differences, learning to like each other and then developing a relationship, in this season we watch the two settle into married life and learn to overcome their personality clashes.

    Writer Sehar Majeed has left no stones unturned with the insane amount of wholesome, endearing moments she wrote for Farjaad and Umeed. Seriously, don’t watch the show unless you’re in your room alone because jitna hum nahi expect kar rahay thay kay aisa koi Pakistani drama would make us squeal this much.

    We know its too early but here are some of our favorite moments so far from the last four episodes where Farjaad and Umeed shine.

    1 Starting with the dance sequence in last week’s episode, with shy boy Farjaad stepping up for the couple dance because Umeed requested him to.

    2 Or how in episode one, Farjaad proving he’s the only one jis ko Umeed ki naraazgi sambhalni aati hai.

    3 Caring fiance setting our standards high by protectively laying his coat over Umeed when she accidently slept over in his office.

    4 The engagement sequence just made us shed tears of blood because kahan say Farjaad jaisa miyaan milay ga

    5 Afterwards when the two are sitting outside and Farjaad says ‘Kis nay kaha tha itna khoobsurat lagnay ka?” Reham karien humaray upar sir

  • Eras tour in Karachi? Twitter hilariously reimagines Taylor Swift’s visit to Pakistan

    Eras tour in Karachi? Twitter hilariously reimagines Taylor Swift’s visit to Pakistan

    Taylor Swift is taking her super successful Eras tour around the globe, with four sold out shows in Mexico City while more will follow in Germany, Singapore, Japan and other countries.

    As usual hum Pakistanis were left out of the planning. So X user Yusra Amjad imagined a hilarious twist on how everything would pan out if the Eras tour came to Karachi.

    “The only place in Pakistan that the Eras Tour could take place is the National Stadium in Karachi, btw. It has a capacity of 50k (Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is 29k only),” the poet wrote.

    There were some witty responses with people imagining how the concert in Karachi would turn out.

    OUR WORST NIGHTMARE

    Maybe Karsaz ki dulhan can give her some company?

    Lahore na lana concert none of us can wait for the surprise songs while stuck in traffic on Liberty Chowk

    Either ways guys, livestreams par dehaan rakho. Koi aisa waisay khwaab sach nahi ajatay.

  • ‘Hadsa’ writer Zanjabeel Asim Shah refutes allegations from motorway rape survivor

    ‘Hadsa’ writer Zanjabeel Asim Shah refutes allegations from motorway rape survivor

    After Hadiqa Kiani, the writer behind the controversial drama ‘Hadsa’ has come forward to address allegations that the script is based on the horrific motorway rape case, in which a woman was gang-raped in 2020 in front of her young children. Episode 5 of the drama shows the female lead, Taskeen, and her son driving down a highway at night when their car suddenly stops. Soon after, a group of men arrive who subject the female lead to torture and rape. Journalist Fereeha Idrees called the story a serious violation of privacy, and demanded that PEMRA shut down the show for exploiting a survivor’s trauma for ratings, without her or her family’s approval.

    Now, in a conversation with BBC Urdu, the writer has denied these allegations, pointing out that every woman, regardless of her background, can suffer from rape:

    “The similarity is just a coincidence. Every woman who goes through this incident, whether she is rich or poor, or whether she comes from an educated family or not, will get affected. Our dramas speak about our sufferings and our situations.”

    ‘When you fight this war, you’re also getting your catharsis,” he said.

    Zanjabeel went on to discuss writing on other topics like child sexual abuse and said that sometimes, drama scripts can bear resemblance to real life cases.

    “I have shown a young son who was getting married. We often say that a woman is going out alone, but she would still be helpless even if her husband went with her.”

    Since the allegations by Idrees went viral, on X, formerly Twitter, the hashtag #banhadsa began trending, with social media users criticing the cast and crew behind for violating the privacy of the rape survivor, and called for PEMRA to ban the drama. To which, Zanjabeel had responded:

    “PEMRA had banned my drama ‘Pyaar Ke Sadqaay’ too. But does this mean girls are not abused inside their homes? PEMRA had annoyed even Bee Gul so much over her drama ‘Darr Si Jaati Hai’. If they keep doing this, then should we only make dramas about saas-bahu conflicts? If we can’t make dramas about sensitive topics, then should we only make romance dramas,” he asked.

    Hadiqa Kiani released a statement on her social media account, saying that when she first read the script there were similarities with the motorway rape case, but after discussions with the writer and team, she understood that the drama was entirely different.

    Her statement was slammed by social media users, who demanded that she stop gaslighting survivors of rape and trauma.

  • Miley dedicates song to Sinead O’Connor, ending dispute with late singer

    Miley dedicates song to Sinead O’Connor, ending dispute with late singer

    Pop star Miley Cyrus has dedicated her song ‘Wonder Woman’ to Sinead O’Connor during an ABC concert special ‘Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions), ending a decade long dispute with the late Irish singer.

    In 2013, the two songstresses engaged in a public clash when Miley’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ video came out. O’Connor wrote an open letter to Miley advising her not to “obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped” by the industry. “None of the men ogling you give a s*** about you either, do not be fooled,” she wrote.

    In response, Miley shared a list of tweets by the late singer, and compared her to the actress Amanda Bynes, who was publicly struggling with her mental health at the same time. O’Connor had been open about mental health struggles, especially the time she spent in psychiatric hospitals. The late singer slammed Cyrus for the response, writing:

    “You have posted today tweets of mine which are two years old, which were posted by me when I was unwell and seeking help so as to make them look like they are recent… In doing so you mock myself and Amanda Bynes for having suffered with mental health issues and for having sought help. I mean really really… who advises you?”

    Now, in the concert special, the former ‘Hannah Montana’ star reflected on the feud, confessing that she wasn’t prepared to be publicly humiliated by another woman, especially one who had been in her position before- but also apologised because she wasn’t aware of Sinead’s fragile mental health state:

    “I was expecting there to be controversy and backlash, but I don’t think I expected other women to put me down or turn on me, especially women that had been in my position before,” said the ‘Flowers’ singer. “This is when I’d received an open letter from Sinead O’Connor, and I had no idea about the fragile mental state that she was in, and I was also only 20 years old, so I could really only wrap my head around mental illness so much. All that I saw was that another woman had told me that this idea was not my idea.”

    “Our younger childhood triggers and traumas come up in weird and odd ways, and I think I’d just been judged for so long for my own choices that I was just exhausted, and I was in this place where I finally was making my own choices and my own decisions, and to have that taken away from me deeply upset me,” she continued. “God bless Sinead O’Connor, for real, in all seriousness.”

  • KHAN TO BE SET FREE, Shehbaz is NOT happy

    KHAN TO BE SET FREE, Shehbaz is NOT happy

    Shehbaz Sharif took to X (formerly Twitter) and reacted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision suspending Imran Khan’s three-year sentence in the Toshakhana case.”‘Laadla’s’ sentence has been suspended, not terminated,” Sharif wrote, adding that Chief Justice’s message of “Good to see you” and “Wishing you good luck” has reached Islamabad High Court.

    He tweeted, “Before the decision comes, everyone knows what the decision will be, so it should be a momentary concern for the justice system. If a clear message is received from the higher judiciary, then what else should the subordinate court do?”

    He further stated that a monitoring judge was appointed to ensure Nawaz Sharif’s punishment, and the then Chief Justice himself became a monitoring judge to save “Laadla”.

    He added, “This role of the justice system will be written in the dark chapter of history. Scales tilted to one side and a justice system that undermines justice are not acceptable. The law is powerless before the one who sold watch. Thieves and state terrorists will be facilitated, then where will the common man get justice in the country?”

    He also stated that be it May 9, be it an attack on the judicial complex, be it throwing petrol bombs on the police, everything is forgiven.

    READ MORE: Imran Khan’s Toshakhana conviction suspended by Islamabad High Court