ISPR approaches Facebook, denies backing removed accounts: sources

RAWALPINDI: Days after Facebook claimed it removed pages, groups and accounts linked to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing has approached the the social media giant to deny its backing of the said accounts and pages, sources told ARY News on Wednesday.

The military’s media wing not only denied backing or employing the people behind pages, accounts and groups which were removed in the exercise but has also approached Facebook to express reservations over claims that it was behind those accounts.

According to sources, ISPR has expressed its reservations over the claims made by Facebook that ISPR was managing these accounts or had employed people to run these accounts.

ISPR also raised questions over Facebook’s act of removing accounts highlighting the Kashmir issue and supporting Pakistan’s armed forces’s struggle.

The military’s media wing also urged the social media giant to open its office in Pakistan for “better understanding of the situation” on ground.

Facebook had made the announcement on April 1 and had said that the 24 pages, 57 accounts and 7 groups removed on Facebook had more than 2.8 million followers.

“Today we removed 103 pages, Groups and accounts for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour on Facebook and Instagram as part of a network that originated in Pakistan,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity, had said in a statement released on April 1, adding that they were linked to ISPR.