Facebook blocks Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation's live streaming: Report

Facebook blocks Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation's live streaming: Report

Facebook has blocked live streaming of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation's (PBC) news bulletins for highlighting “Indian atrocities in Kashmir”, Radio Pakistan said Monday.

The news coverage exposing “continued atrocities, curfew and military lockdown in IoK” led to the blockage, the statement said.

Screenshots from back in May and July shared on the Radio Pakistan website showed a warning message from Facebook, saying that "your post goes against our Community Standards on dangerous individuals and organisations."

The screenshots are an indication that Facebook has a history of censoring Radio Pakistan's content — a practise it may have repeated on the broadcast of its live streaming content.

The warning, as per the screenshots shared, was given on posts that showed the picture of Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Muzaffar Wani and, in another instance, mentioned a "mujahid commander Zakir Musa" in the lead-in text.

However, Radio Pakistan, which is a part of the PBC, said today that it has made "alternate arrangements on YouTube for live streaming for its viewers."

It is pertinent to mention that Radio Pakistan has been "highlighting the voice of the people of Occupied Kashmir, and exposing Indian brutalities and gross human rights violations at every platform including social media".

Facebook and Twitter had earlier suspended hundreds of individuals' accounts and removed multiple pro-Kashmir posts from Pakistan, reportedly under pressure from India.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had approached both the organisations and lodged complaints against their actions.

The PTA has also established a helpline for users if they face suspension of accounts.

Facebook has blocked live streaming of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation's (PBC) news bulletins for highlighting Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir, Radio Pakistan reported on Monday.

However, temporary arrangements have been made to continue live streaming of Radio Pakistan's bulletins on YouTube, the report added.

In its report, Radio Pakistan has included screenshots of earlier warning messages received from the social-media giant, dating back to May, warning the public broadcaster of violating "community standards on dangerous individuals and organisations".

Specifically, these posts were from news stories about the death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani in July and the curfew imposed after the death of Zakir Musa, also a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, in May.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Monday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan stated that Pakistan has to move away from international [social media] platforms in order to become more self-reliant.

Talking about Kashmir, she said: “As we have seen, every time we try to highlight human rights violations on social media platforms, such as Facebook, the accounts are suspended”.

“We have raised our voices against this before and will do so again in the future and will have those accounts restored,” she added.

(WebDesk)