ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's military and spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), have lodged complaints with the government against fake accounts of their chiefs on social networking site -- Facebook.
The complaint, according to a report published in Dawn on Tuesday, was made to the Ministry of Information and Technology and the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), a telecom regulator, stating that barring the account of military spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa, the rest were fake.
Khurram Mehran, a PTA spokesman, said that whenever such a complaint is received, it is taken up with the relevant organisation for appropriate action.
Another official said the material hosted by the website was operated from the United States so the PTA cannot delete a specific link on its own and has to depend on cooperation from Facebook management. "The government, however, can block an entire website as it did with Youtube," he added.
A concerned military official said after the appointment of Gen Raheel Sharif as army chief in November 2013, at least 37 accounts were created on Facebook posing to be his.
He said PTA took up the matter and Facebook management subsequently deleted most of them but the fake accounts resurfaced again after a few weeks.
Friend lists of these accounts include senior journalists, politicians, businessmen, army personnel and students.
The report said these accounts update statuses; put up pictures, military's press releases, army medals and famous quotes to appear authentic.
The complaint, according to a report published in Dawn on Tuesday, was made to the Ministry of Information and Technology and the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), a telecom regulator, stating that barring the account of military spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa, the rest were fake.
Khurram Mehran, a PTA spokesman, said that whenever such a complaint is received, it is taken up with the relevant organisation for appropriate action.
Another official said the material hosted by the website was operated from the United States so the PTA cannot delete a specific link on its own and has to depend on cooperation from Facebook management. "The government, however, can block an entire website as it did with Youtube," he added.
A concerned military official said after the appointment of Gen Raheel Sharif as army chief in November 2013, at least 37 accounts were created on Facebook posing to be his.
He said PTA took up the matter and Facebook management subsequently deleted most of them but the fake accounts resurfaced again after a few weeks.
Friend lists of these accounts include senior journalists, politicians, businessmen, army personnel and students.
The report said these accounts update statuses; put up pictures, military's press releases, army medals and famous quotes to appear authentic.
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