ISLAMABAD – Muhammad Abubakar Umer, General Manager of Government of Pakistan’s Digital Media Wing, emphasised on the need of establishing a credible system to curb the menace of misinformation in the society.
He expressed his views while talking to PTV News about repercussions of fake news in a society.
Umer recalled that speculations spiraled wildly on social media when senior journalist Arshad Sharif was shot dead in Kenya, adding that such situation could be controlled if there had been an unbiased body.
He said that the Digital Media Wing is also of the view that there must be credible system, which is acceptable to every political party, as when efforts were made to implement rules and regulations in the past, it was speculated that these are meant to benefit a specific group or party.
Restricting & discouraging flow of Fake News without compromising on one’s freedom of speech is the considered approach of Digital Media Wing under Ministry of Information & broadcasting. Indp. Org working in this critical area are most welcome for exchange of ideas & execution. pic.twitter.com/ShvH3jB9TU
— Abubakar Umer (@abubakarumer) October 27, 2022
“Restricting and discouraging the flow of fake news without compromising on one’s freedom of speech is the considered approach of Digital Media Wing under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting,” he said.
He also lamented that online trolling by users is owned by the political parties, adding that a lot of work needed to be done to educate the society.
