Cabinet Division Parliamentary Secretary Sajid Mehdi revealed in the National Assembly on Wednesday that the federal government has blocked almost 80,000 mobile SIMs for spreading fake news on social media.
Talking with media representatives about spreading fake news on social media, he said the federal government has applied and tested different procedures to handle this task. The secretary also emphasized that the Federal Government and a joint task force of the military establishment have submitted a report to PM Shahbaz.
The Cabinet Division Parliamentary Secretary Sajid Mehdi also forced more improvements in the PECA ordinance 2016 to handle these issues adequately. He suggested a few revisions are required to accelerate the trial of cases related to sharing fake news on social media.
He also mentioned that the registration of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) is also very helpful in identifying fake news-sharing accounts and better observing online activities.
During the media talk, Mr. Sajid was confident regarding controlling and reducing fake news sharing on social media. He also shared his opinion about an awareness move that has also been launched to teach the citizens about the negative aspects of sharing fake news on social media.