Twitter will no longer suspend Pakistani accounts: govt
October 09, 2019
Social networking website Twitter will no longer unilaterally suspend or terminate user accounts originating from Pakistan, according to a statement made to the press by the government.
On August 19, the government of Pakistan, in a letter to Twitter Vice President Trust and Safety Del Harvey, had said accounts of users from Pakistan were shut down without warning or prior notice.
The letter further said that suspending such accounts had caused massive unrest, resentment and anger among the general public, and asked Twitter to amend their policy this regard.
Chairman of the National IT Board Shabahat Ali Shah met with Twitter officials recently in which important issues between the Twitter administration and the government of Pakistan were discussed.
The government statement further revealed that Twitter will no longer unilaterally suspend the accounts of Pakistani users and will contact the government of Pakistan in case of any complaint beforehand.
During the meeting, the issue of suppressing the voice of Pakistani Twitter users by Indians also came under discussion, in which Twitter officials were told that hundreds of Pakistani Twitter accounts were suspended for raising their voice for Kashmiris.
Twitter officials were told that after India’s illegal annexation of occupied Kashmir, there had been an increase in Indian bullying through Twitter. Twitter said it will change the way accounts were suspended henceforth.
Many Pakistani users had complained that Twitter had suspended or restricted their accounts when they expressed their support with the people of Indian occupied Kashmir.
Read more: #IndiaHijackedTwitter trends on Twitter
The platform was used by thousands of Pakistani and Kashmiri users to heap praise on Prime Minister Imran Khan for raising the Kashmir issue and exposing the Indian government’s policy of ethnic cleansing.
Following the speech, social media users posted thousands of tweets to eulogise their leader by using the hashtag "Voice of Kashmir”, which became a global trending topic.
Soon, Pakistani Twitter accounts using the hashtag were suspended. To record their protest, thousands of Pakistani users started posting tweets under the hashtag #IndiaHijackedTwitter.
A large number of users also tagged Twitter CEO Jack Patrick Dorsey in their messages, accusing the portal of attempting to suppress their voice against Indian atrocities.
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