Category: Social Media

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Women more prone to online hate speech

LAHORE: A highly informative session titled, ‘Hate speech and disinformation’ attracted a good number of audiences at the Asma Jahangir Conference held at a hotel on Egerton Road on Sunday.

The session was moderated by Usama Khilji, Director of Bolo Bhi, had Nighat Dad, Executive Director of the Digital Rights Foundation, Frederick Rawsaki, head of Human Rights Policy Meta (joined online), and Mahmood ur Rehman, Deputy Director, FIA’s Cybercrime Wing, as panelists.

Mr Khilji, in his opening remarks, observed that young women are more susceptible to hate speech online.

Nighat Dad, with regard to yesterday’s incident at the conference, said protest was young people’s fundamental right, and it is the responsibility of those in power to listen to them. “I would like to condemn what happened, the organizers should not have thrown out those young people and the German ambassador should not have demanded they keep quiet.

“There are proper groups that run targeted disinformation campaigns to build certain narratives,” says Dad.

She says that for the ban on X in Pakistan, the excuse was being given that it was in the same vein as the US ban on TikTok. “Why copy and paste terrible parts of laws, why not look at the rule of law in the country we are copying and pasting laws from?” she demands.

She said there was no structure to regulate digital media. Referring to X, she said a platform was totally banned and the authorities concerned were ignoring court orders in this regard. Nobody knows who is controlling or regulating the digital media, she added.

Frederick Rawski said that Meta’s human rights policy is rather new, introduced in 2021. And while no human rights policy is perfect, Meta has done its utmost to inculcate a robust, comprehensive policy, he said.

 

 

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British national jailed for seven years in a harassment case in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The Special Court on Prevention of Electronic Crimes on Saturday convicted a British Pakistani for blackmailing and sexually harassing a woman, and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment.

Special Judge Azam Khan also imposed an Rs150,000 fine on the convict, Ashfaq Khalil, a resident of Jhelum.

As per the prosecution, the convict shared objectionable photographs and videos of the woman on social media. He the started blackmailing the family of the victim by sending them objectionable contents. The Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a complaint in June last year.

Following registration of the First Information Report (FIR) he was taken into custody. The convict had applied for bail after arrest in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which was dismissed.

Meanwhile, judicial magistrate of the FIA handed over the custody of Samiullah, a resident of Peshawar, for making objectionable videos and photographs of women and blackmailing them. The court granted three days’ physical remand of the accused to the Cyber Crime Wing of the FIA.

The complainant in the case were two sisters residing in Islamabad. The suspect was blackmailing both of them

The FIA has so far recovered two mobile phones from the suspect. The Senior Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate approved the FIA’s request seeking remand of the suspect for further recoveries. The court directed the FIA to produce the suspect on April 11.

Source: Dawn

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Man kills daughter in Charsadda over dance video on social media

CHARSADDA: A man shot dead his 18-year-old daughter in Vano Ghari village of Sardaryab here on Sunday after a dancing video of her went viral on social media.

Mother of the deceased girl told the city police that she along with her daughter and a son-in-law was present at her house when her husband, Bakhtiar Gul, arrived there, took a pistol and shot dead his daughter.

She said her husband took the extreme step after someone taunted him about the social media video.

She said the deceased girl was a domestic help at the residence of a rich family in Islamabad, where a boy from Swat also worked.

The woman said the boy made a marriage offer to her, but she refused because she was already engaged.

However, the boy started blackmailing her, and when he failed in his efforts, he uploaded her dancing video on social media with fake ID in revenge, she complained.

She said on the day of the incident, they had decided to lodge an FIR in Islamabad against the boy.

Source: Dawn

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Call for changing narrative against harassment via digital outreach

The Uks Research Centre on Saturday held a ‘Dialogue for Change’ webinar on ‘Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces’ to address the gate-crashing and women harassment cases on the Karachi Eat festival’s third day. They also discussed why men unaccompanied by women are not allowed inside the city’s malls.

Senior democratic and local government specialist Fauzia Yazdani shared how the distribution of dignity kits was a hassle in the flood-hit areas. She said that to make the National Disaster Management Authority understand the needs of women is “next to impossible”.

She also mentioned how disposing off gauze or sanitary pads was problematic for the flood-hit women because they consider it a taboo for anyone to see it. “Culturally, we’re told that it’s a sin if someone finds out about it or sees it.”

She shared her experience of Lahore when she used to travel in public buses, how it used to be torture standing at the bus stop, and how men tried to grope and harass inside public buses.

She stressed that they can try and change the narrative against harassment through digital outreach, and use TikTok for that purpose as well. But, she admitted, it would take time.

Another participant, Rafia, shared how short video reels on various digital platforms can be used to change the narrative against harassment. “People have a short attention span, and they focus on short reels.”

She suggested circulating different messages in various languages on social media to educate people. As long as we do not consider it citizen journalism, things will not change in society, she pointed out.

The Legal Aid Society’s (LAS) informative video on women’s harassment was also played. LAS staff attorney Kissa Broadie shared how she started moving independently after her mother’s death, and how she would walk sometimes and experience harassment. Someone later advised her to wear a burqa, but she said that it changed nothing.

She said that advocates are available from 9am to 5pm at the LAS helpline. “Anyone who calls it can get free legal advice from an advocate then and there.”

She explained how the advice helps deal with harassment, and that they are told how the affected person can collect proofs, and who can be approached; they even provide contact information.

She said that if someone cannot afford a lawyer, the LAS provides them one for free after proper investigation. “Slowly and gradually we’re increasing its knowledge among the public.”

She also mentioned how they have reported rape and domestic violence cases through their helpline, and they have been resolved through the courts or alternative dispute resolution. They get 200 to 300 calls on a daily basis, she pointed out.

As for the media, Fauzia pointed out that the media only want to sensationalise crimes against women, and they are not sensitive to the reality.

Journalist Sibte Hassan spoke about the need of a code of ethics on social media. He said that unless a court orders against naming a victim, social and mainstream media continue to do so. He stressed the need for guidelines or regulations for social media influencers so that the victims’ identities can be protected.

Uks head Tasneem Ahmer shared how Uks is working on devising a code of ethics for social media, but at the same time, they do not want to hinder the freedom of speech.

Source: The News

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Sindh High Court (SHC) tells Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block scandalous material against TV actresses

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block defamatory and scandalous online material against television actress Rabia Iqbal, alias Kubra Khan, on social media sites.

The interim order came on a petition filed by the actress against scandalous and defamatory campaign against her and three other TV actresses on social media. The petitioner submitted that a Youtuber who claimed himself as rights activist and former army officer had made false allegations against four actresses of the media industry degrading them and causing an affront to their modesty and dignity by alleging that they were used by agencies to lure politicians into compromising positions at safe houses.

A counsel for the petitioner submitted that Youtuber Adil Farooq Raja later on uploaded another video where he clarified the issue and retracted from his earlier version but during the process it had irreparably damaged the reputation of the actresses, including the petitioner, on account of the contents uploaded on social media sites and cyberspace.

The counsel submitted that the act of the Youtuber was strictly cognisable under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (Peca) and the PTA was the designated agency to check such illegalities and pass orders to ensure removal of such content.

He submitted that the FIA and PTA had been approached for removal of such content but no action had been taken against the Youtuber or removal of the defamatory and scandalous content.

The high court was requested to direct the PTA and FIA to take immediate action against perpetrators of the Peca law. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar after preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the FIA, PTA and others and called their comments.

In the meantime, the high court directed the FIA and PTA to block such channels and handles involved in circulating defamatory campaign against the actresses and remained vigilant in this regard.

Source: The News

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