'Facebook can influence 2018 polls'-LHC moved for closure of fake accounts

LAHORE: A petition seeking directives for the federal authorities and the Election Commission of Pakistan to approach Mark Zukerberg, the CEO of Facebook, to get fake accounts blocked was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday.

The petition seeks weeding out of fake accounts in an effort to thwart any designs to influence the upcoming polls.

It states the CEO of Facebook testified before a joint hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee that fake accounts can influence the 2018 polls in Pakistan.

The ECP is bound to hold free, fair and transparent general elections in the country, the petition says and pleads with judges to direct the electoral body and the federal authorities to regulate social media.

The official respondents should also be directed to approach the Facebook chief to get fake accounts blocked, it says.

In April, Zukerberg turned up for the joint hearing, saying that 2018 was an extremely important year for elections as several nations were going to polls this year.

He said: “One of my top priorities in 2018 is to get this right [and] one of my greatest regrets in running the company is that we were slow in identifying the Russian information operations in 2016.”

“2018 is an incredibly important year for elections. Not just with the US midterms, but around the world, there are important elections in India, in Brazil, in Mexico, in Pakistan and in Hungary.”