Hundreds of thousands of tweets created in June & July, profiles of overseas Pakistani among those involved
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At least 50 people were issued notices on Friday for allegedly running a smear campaign against the country’s military in the past two months.
SAMAA TV’s investigation unit has learnt that at least 21 hashtags were “created, used and promoted” to hurt the military’s image. The military’s top officer, the army chief, was also targeted.
These tweets and corresponding retweets, replies and likes numbered approximately 4.8 million.
An investigation into the matter revealed that only 15 social media users tweeted the aforementioned hashtag 3,200 times, while overseas Pakistanis also participated in the campaign.
It is pertinent to mention that after the helicopter crash, a joint team was formed by the federal government to identify elements responsible for running smear campaigns against the military.
On August 8, the interior ministry issued a notification creating a six-member joint investigation team to take action against those involved in trolling the military on social media.
Representatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and the Federal Investigation Unit (FIA) were also included in the team.
The FIA cyber wing has already summoned some two dozen people in the case. Sources said seven users had to a particular political party.
The army’s cyber wing identified 10 users and forwarded their details to the FIA.
Once the investigation is completed by the law enforcement agencies, action will be taken against the accused under the PECA law.
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