Facebook blocks live streaming of PBC news bulletins over Kashmir posts: Radio Pakistan
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Facebook has blocked live streaming of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation's (PBC) news bulletins for highlighting Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir, Radio Pakistan reported on Monday.
However, temporary arrangements have been made to continue live streaming of Radio Pakistan's bulletins on YouTube, the report added.
The posts in questions, screenshots of which have been uploaded to Radio Pakistan's website, were news stories about the death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani in July and the curfew imposed after the death of Zakir Musa, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, in May.
Read: Who removes Kashmir posts on Facebook?
In 2016, Facebook came under fire for censoring dozens of posts related to the death of Wani, reported The Guardian. Photos, videos and entire accounts of academics and journalists as well as entire pages of local newspapers were removed for posting about the occupied valley.
More recently, Twitter faced criticism after rights activists voiced concerns over the removal of hundreds of tweets criticals of the Indian government's policies in occupied Kashmir, reported Al Jazeera.
According to the Al Jazeera report, a study by a media watchdog revealed that nearly one million tweets had been removed since 2017.
In August, Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had said Pakistani authorities had taken up with Twitter and Facebook the alleged suspension of Pakistani social media accounts posting in support of Kashmir.
Of the 17,807 content restrictions made by Facebook globally, the highest number — over 31 per cent — of the requests originated from Pakistan between January and July 2019, according to the platform’s latest transparency report released in November.
Read: Pakistan leads in number of censorship requests sent to Facebook
Facebook restricted 5,690 items within Pakistan during the first half of 2019, as compared to 4,174 pieces from the second half of 2018.
