ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Monday accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of running a sustained and targeted propaganda campaign on social media, while stressing that freedom of expression must be exercised within the limits prescribed by the Constitution and the law.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Chaudhry alleged that online messaging, tweets and trending campaigns were being run through paid arrangements. “Each message, each tweet and every trend is being paid for,” he said, adding that the majority of such accounts were created using fake identities and were not operated from within Pakistan.
He said fake social media accounts, many of them run from abroad, were being used to disseminate content against Pakistan, with payments made to generate tweets and coordinated online trends.
The minister said he would present documents and evidence during the briefing, clarifying that the material was not compiled by the government but provided by the relevant social media platforms themselves.
“Most of these accounts are operated from outside the country. They are fake accounts created under false names, and this evidence has been obtained directly from social media platforms,” he said.
Chaudhry claimed the authorities had traced the accounts involved and that institutions were actively reporting fake profiles to the platforms concerned, whose parent companies are also based overseas.
He further alleged that the content circulated through these accounts was being used to support militant organisations, including the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “We have been fighting terrorism for a long time and are on the front line against it, yet these fake accounts are being used to support the BLA and TTP,” he said.
The minister added that the interior ministry would continue its efforts to counter online disinformation and what he described as organised digital campaigns aimed at undermining national security.
