Current Final

Tag: social media

  • Social media hater? You could go to prison for seven years

    Social media hater? You could go to prison for seven years

    The federal cabinet has approved an amendment seeking seven-year imprisonment for those who spread hateful content on social media.

    Under the amendment, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been authorised to take action against such people. The final approval of the amendment will be taken by Parliament.

    However, Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah decided to consult journalists and other stakeholders on the amendment. The minister said that if the amendment leads to restrictions on people’s freedom of expression, then the government will withdraw the bill

    The interior minister also stressed that if the bill is against the freedom of expression then “we won’t pass it”.

    Sanaullah said people’s private lives are being affected due to social media which is a “serious matter”.

    He further added that the issue is an important one, therefore, the government is hoping that the amendments will not create hurdles in the way of people’s right to freedom of expression.

    Earlier this year, during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tenure, President Arif Alvi approved an ordinance of a similar nature proposing amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, (PECA) 2016. It proposed a five-year sentence for criticising state institutions, including the Pakistan Army and judiciary on electronic media

    At the time, Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared the ordinance “unconstitutional” and directed the federal government to probe abuse of the law and submit a report. The law also faced backlash from the media fraternity.

  • Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and what it means for you

    Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and what it means for you

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has finally closed the $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter.

    The “Chief Twit” allegedly fired Twitter’s senior executives, including its CEO Parag Agrawal and its head of legal policy Vijaya Gadde, on Thursday after closing the $44 billion deal.

    The takeover may bring significant changes to Twitter. The indicators have gotten stronger since the senior management was fired on the first day. Musk has previously made various allusions to the possibility of changing the online platform.

    This might not be good news if you use Twitter and value your online privacy. The platform has struggled with privacy and security issues for years, and it has been slow to put any potential fixes into action. As a result, it’s possible that everything you’ve ever done or said on Twitter, whether it was in public or private, including your direct messages, belongs to one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, a man notorious for being unpredictable, childish, and even vengeful.

    Additionally, it is now owned by a man who wanted to fire 75 per cent of the company’s employees, which might further jeopardise Twitter’s security.

    Noman Javed, an electrical engineer from Lahore, Pakistan, who has been using Twitter since 2010, said that given how immature and erratic Musk has always been, “anything is possible” on the social networking site. Musk has previously stated numerous times that he wants to support free expression and allow people to write anything; although this may sound positive, it can also be risky. As if everyone can tweet anything they want without worrying about being blocked or experiencing any negative effects.

    Javed anticipates that there may be increased disputes and debates on the platform, particularly between Indian and Pakistani users who regularly argue over a variety of topics, including sports and religion.

    According to TIME, when Musk commenced the takeover in April, he wrote CEO Agrawal, “I have a tonne of ideas.”

    Musk lists the preservation of “free expression” on Twitter as one of his key concerns. One of the primary advocates for removing Trump from the platform, Vijaya Gadde’s dismissal is regarded as the first step in that direction.

    After the attacks on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, Trump was taken from the podium. A few other right-wing speakers were banned from the stage for promoting false information and divisive ideas.

    In a survey Musk conducted in March, he found that 74 per cent of users wanted an “edit” feature. The edit button has already begun to undergo testing on Twitter, but it has not yet been made available everywhere.

    Musk has spoken out against the pervasive use of bots on Twitter. Musk said in September that 90% of the replies on his tweets are automated. Even Agrawal was targeted with the assertion that eight out of ten Twitter accounts are bogus.

    He might take action in the coming days based on bots and phoney accounts. However, a Scottish digital university called CodeClan claims that if Musk bans bots, he might lose as many as 13.5 million followers.

    According to Bloomberg, in April, Musk reportedly disclosed to the banks his plans to create features to increase business revenue, including novel ways to monetize tweets that contain significant information or go viral.

    He suggested ideas including charging a fee when a third-party website wants to reference or incorporate a tweet from a verified person or organisation.

    A UCLA adjunct professor named Robert McCann claims that Musk’s public criticism of Twitter and its leadership has caused a “significant erosion of trust” on the website.

    Employee morale can suffer, and it might “spook” potential customers. Additionally, due to the restructuring at the very top, more employees may voluntarily quit the company after the purchase.

    In an open letter to advertisers published on Thursday, billionaire Elon Musk said he wouldn’t allow Twitter to devolve into a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.” His apparent goal was to allay users’ and advertisers’ concerns the day before his $44 billion acquisition.

  • Ab teacher ki baari: Teacher gets suspended for taking naps during class hours

    Ab teacher ki baari: Teacher gets suspended for taking naps during class hours

    The Sindh Education and Literacy Department has suspended a primary school teacher in Sabu Kartio who was captured sleeping on camera during class hours.

    Sindh Elementary Education Department took notice of the occurrence and suspended him for sleeping in the class rather than teaching the students.

    The teacher, named Imtiaz Ali, can be seen in the pictures sleeping on chairs and on benches. The pictures went viral on social media and led to his suspension.

    The teacher was appointed at the Government Boys Primary School.

    Shortly after the pictures, he was immediately suspended by the District Education Officer and put on a suspension allowance.

  • Hira Mani reacts to her viral meme with Naseem Shah

    Hira Mani reacts to her viral meme with Naseem Shah

    Actor Hira Mani recently garnered praise for doing fundraising events in America for the flood victims of Pakistan. However there is more that keeps her trending, including several memes by her fans and admirers.

    A netizen recently made a meme of Hira which also featured the acclaimed cricketer Naseem Shah. The meme read, “Naseem Shah please instead of this ball, throw me nearby Hira Mani.”

    The Sun Yaara diva was quick to respond to the meme on her Instagram story, “Wow wow, you guys should keep being creative like this.”

    Naseem is not new to the world of memes, earlier this year, netizens flooded social media after his morphed clip with Bollywood actor Urvashi Rautela surfaced on the web.

    Internet on fire after Urvashi posted edited video with Naseem
  • Ishaq Dar denies allegation of taking any money, says ‘Imrandos’ are spreading fake news

    Ishaq Dar denies allegation of taking any money, says ‘Imrandos’ are spreading fake news

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a “disinformation army”.

    In a media talk on Thursday, responding to a question by a journalist about him taking Rs72 crore in back salary, the minister said, “This is the disinformation army of PTI who malign everything” and termed them as “imrandos”.

    “I didnt take a single penny and don’t have any intention to take any money,” he added.

    During the talk, when asked about decreasing petrol prices, he said, “Abhi kal toh ki hai”. (We reduced the prices just now).

    The finance minister also addressed the continuous depreciation of the US dollar against the rupee, saying that the greenback depreciated without him doing anything.

    He also announced a power subsidy package for Pakistan’s export industries with per unit electricity cost set at Rs19.99.

    Dar said the annual burden of the subsidy would amount to around Rs90-100 billion, adding that the “all-inclusive” package was announced for the five major exporting sectors, and not just the textile sector.

    Meanwhile, in response to a question on whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was taken into confidence on the package, the finance minister said: “I don’t need to take the IMF into confidence, when I know what I am doing then it is my responsibility to create fiscal space for it and I have done so.”

    Moreover, the minister said the market is now going in the “right direction” and correcting itself.

  • PTA blocks more than 1 million social media accounts for posting illegal content

    PTA blocks more than 1 million social media accounts for posting illegal content

    Over 1.1 million social media accounts were suspended by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for posting “illegal” content and engaging in defamation campaigns against organisations.

    According to specifics, PTA received over 1,200,000 complaints, including 134,000 against Facebook, and barred more than 1,135,000 IDs for uploading “illegal” content and taking part in a smear campaign against government institutions.

    PTA reported that Facebook has blocked more than 112,000 bogus IDs. In addition, the agency received 65,122 complaints for immoral content posted on TikTok; following an investigation, 63,000 IDs were disabled.

    According to ARY News, the PTA took down more than 36,000 YouTube videos and blacklisted 31,860 Twitter IDs in response to complaints.

    After lowering the number of non-operational sites to 163, the PTA previously declared that it has restored telecom services in more flood-affected areas.

    PTA said on Twitter via its handle that ongoing efforts by the organisation and telecom providers to restore connectivity in flood-affected areas have further reduced the number of non-operational sites to 163.

    Additionally, PTA stated that work is underway to restore telecom services completely in flood-affected areas on a priority basis.

  • Stylist sets world record, gives haircut in just 47 seconds

    Stylist sets world record, gives haircut in just 47 seconds

    Konstantinos Koutoupis, a Greek hairstylist knows how to give a nice hairstyle and that too in less than a minute.

    Koutoupis has set a Guinness World Record for the fastest haircut in just 47 seconds.

    In a video that has now gone viral on social media, the hairstylist can be seen trimming a man’s hair in an utmost effortless way.

    He swiftly moves the trimmer on the model’s head with a comb to grip the hair in his other hand. The stylist stops and raises his hands right after the timer strikes the mark of 47 seconds.

    His name was then entered into the Guinness World Records after the judges measured the length of the hair to ensure that the work was completed properly.

    Guinness World Records tweeted the video with the message, “Need a quick trim? How about a 45-second trim?”

    Many netizens were amazed by the Greek hairstylist’s accuracy.

  • The highly demanded feature Twitter is testing is out

    The highly demanded feature Twitter is testing is out

    Microblogging website Twitter said it is testing the edit button for a limited number of users. The feature will be initially available for paid users only.


    “If you see an edited Tweet, it’s because we’re testing the edit button,” the official Twitter account tweeted Thursday.


    “This is happening and you’ll be okay,” the tweet added

    https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1565318587736285184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    “Edit Tweet is a feature that lets people make changes to their Tweet after it’s been published. Think of it as a short period of time to do things like fix typos, add missed tags, and more,” said the company in a blog post.
    “For this test, Tweets will be able to be edited a few times in the 30 minutes following their publication. Edited Tweets will appear with an icon, timestamp, and label so it’s clear to readers that the original Tweet has been modified. Tapping the label will take viewers to the Tweet’s Edit History, which includes past versions of the Tweet.”
    “For context, the time limit and version history play an important role here. They help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said,” the statement added.
    “Twitter Blue” subscribers will have access to the Edit button.

    Following the completion of initial internal testing, the Edit Tweet feature will be made available to a few Twitter Blue subscribers later this month.
    Earlier this year, Twitter announced that the company is working on the Edit button

  • India forced Twitter to hire agent, reveals former security chief

    India forced Twitter to hire agent, reveals former security chief

    According to a whistleblower statement to US authorities, a former Twitter security head said that the Indian government pressured the social media company to hire a government agent.

    Along with other security breach allegations at Twitter, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko brought up the matter with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

    According to a redacted version of the lawsuit posted by the Washington Post and confirmed by Zatko’s attorney at Whistleblower Aid, he claimed that Twitter’s lax security measures would have allowed the government agent access to sensitive user data.

    Without going into further detail, a corporate source told Reuters that the claims against the Indian government have already appeared on Twitter.

    Requests for comment from the Indian IT ministry’s representatives were not immediately responded.

    “What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lack important context,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

    India is engaging in unlawful activities and content on Twitter, according to the company’s management.

    After asking a local court to reverse several government orders to remove content from the social media site and alleging official abuse of authority, Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Indian government in July.

    The case’s next hearing will take place on August 25.

    “The company did not in fact disclose to users that it was believed by the executive team that the Indian government had succeeded in placing agents on the company payroll,” Zatko’s complaint noted.

    According to Washington Post, the National Security Division of the US Justice Department and the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have received documentation corroborating Zatko’s assertions.

    CNN claims that these revelations of Twitter’s carelessness represent a serious threat to democracy and national security.

  • Instagram to halt TikTok-like features after severe backlash

    Instagram to halt TikTok-like features after severe backlash

    Instagram has announced that it is suspending the rollout of new features to its app following an online backlash from users, influencers, and celebrities.

    Updates to Instagram are believed to be due to the growing popularity of its competitor “TikTok” which comprises videos rather than still images.

    Celebrity sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner also posted on social media this week urging the company to “make Instagram Instagram again” and stop trying to be like TikTok.

    The slogan came from a Change.org petition that had more than 229,000 signatures as of Thursday night. “Let’s go back to our roots with Instagram and remember that the intention behind Instagram was to share photos, for Pete’s sake,” the petition reads.

    Toni Tone, writer and content creator, posted how frustrated she was with the modifications and how Instagram was so much more reasonable when she received content from the people she preferred to follow.

    Instagram head Adam Mosseri responded to the controversy earlier this week by posting a video on Twitter saying the features are a work in progress, testing with a small number of users. But after some backlash, he later said in a series of tweets that he wanted to “continue supporting photos.”

    New features included recommended video content, styled like rival app TikTok. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said it wants to “take the time” to get the transition right.