Twitter warns Pakistani activists
Social network Twitter has warned two Pakistani rights activists against objectionable content, they said on Monday, a move that signals a continuing push by the South Asian nation to rein in free speech online.
The warnings come a week after Twitter suspended the account of an ultraright Pakistani cleric who issued threats against the government and judiciary over the acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
“Warnings sent out by Twitter are an example of how online spaces are being regulated and are shrinking for internet users voicing their opinions,” said Pakistani lawyer and internet activist Nighat Dad.
In recent e-mails, Twitter told activist Taha Siddiqui it had received complaints that his account was in “violation of Pakistani law”, he said. It added that further action could be taken but did not specify what.
“Pakistani authorities ... are pressuring Twitter to take ‘legal’ steps against me,” said Siddiqui, a correspondent for France 24 television, who fled Pakistan in 2018. “Twitter should stop becoming a facilitator of repressive regimes.”
Siddiqui left Pakistan after a failed abduction attempt.
Twitter’s Asia-Pacific representative had no comment when contacted by Reuters.
Pakistan’s information minister, Fawwad Chaudhry, said his office was “trying to establish close co-ordination” with Twitter death to threats curb ”“hate but did speech not directly and respond to questions on the case of Siddiqui, and another activist who received two warnings, Gul Bukhari.
Bukhari, who was briefly abducted in July from a military cantonment in the eastern city of Lahore, said one of her e-mail warnings from Twitter referred to a tweet that criticised the government’s lack of action against a prominent cleric.
The cleric, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, had his Twitter account blocked last week after he threatened the Supreme Court judges who acquitted Asia Bibi and urged their cooks and servants to kill them.
In a reply to Twitter, Bukhari said Rizvi’s speeches violated the law because he was inciting violence against state officials. “In my tweet I am asking government to take action against him. In which world is that illegal?” she wrote.