The interior ministry on Monday informed the Islamabad High Court that Facebook administration has removed 85 per cent of blasphemous content from the social networking website on Pakistan’s request, Express News reported.
During the hearing, Interior Secretary Arif Khan said that Facebook has taken Pakistan’s request positively and is blocking blasphemous content on the social networking site. Only 15 per cent of such content is remaining, he said in his report. The secretary said that banning Facebook is not the solution.
He further informed the court that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested three suspects for their alleged involvement in publishing blasphemous content on social media.
Authorities seized mobile phones, laptops and computers from the suspects’ possession and sent for forensic examination. They said that the suspects have been arrested on the suspicion of sharing and spreading blasphemous content via social media.
IHC Judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui last week revealed that the court would take a decision about whether social media websites in Pakistan, providing a platform to blasphemous content, should be banned or not during the next hearing on March 27.
The court, while hearing a case pertaining to the dissemination of blasphemous content through social media, also asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to submit its latest findings in this regard in the form of a report.
The hearing of the case has been adjourned till March 31.
