A couple of reports surfaced recently in relation to a Facebook page being run in the name of “Supreme Court of Pakitan”. The matter has been cleared by the apex court, as the apex court has announced that neither the court operates or own any such kind of social media pages.
On Wednesday, the court clarified in a statement
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan is neither using any Facebook account or page nor any other ID on any other social networking sites.”
Concerned authorities including Federal Investigation Agency and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had been directed to block and take legal action against any such social media ID under the Cybercrime Law, by Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Currently, a huge range of pages is present on Facebook that is posting multiple pictures of old judges, lawyers, private messages to Chief Justice and newspaper clippings etc. About this situation, The most alarming thing is that thousands of people are following these pages and are getting engaged with its contents.
Similar orders had also been issued in November last year when former Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali was seen directing the authorities to block fake Facebook accounts associated with him. The Chief Justice ordered the concerned agencies to take action against those operating fake accounts in his name, under the relevant laws.
The previous year, parliament passed the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2016 to ensure helping law enforcement agencies counter the rise in cyber crimes such as cyber stalking, fake and stolen IDs on Facebook, Twitter and such other social media platforms.
However, the law made to counter cyber crimes also fascinated criticism from civil society organizations, who maintained that the law is curbing human rights, criminalizing conduct that should not be criminalized and is giving overreaching powers to law enforcement agencies.
