PakistanToday article declared Fake News by MoIB

In order to expose fake news spreading on social media and providing the government’s version of the situation, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting headed by Minister for Information Chaudhary Fawad Hassan has recently started a twitter handle FakeNewsBusterMoIB.

According to the twitter page, “The objective of social media is information, education and knowledge sharing. It should be based on truth and should not spread #FakenNews and disinformation, to achieve ulterior motives. Otherwise, it will erode its credibility.”

Till today the page has been discrediting social media posts regarding several PTI leader, however, today the page has declared an article by a well known online news website to be fake.

Yesterday PakistanToday claimed that the first lady is expecting a child without any reliable sources. The claim has been rejected the government using the twitter handle and called it fake news.

In the tweet MoIB claims “Fabricating and spreading completely baseless news is a malicious activity & in violation of journalistic ethics & code of conduct. Such behavior is highly condemnable. It is the collective responsibility of social media users to discourage and reject all such elements. #FakeNews.”

Fabricating and spreading completely baseless news is a malicious activity & in violation of journalistic ethics & code of conduct. Such behavior is highly condemnable. It is the collective responsibility of social media users to discourage and reject all such elements. #FakeNews pic.twitter.com/uR21H7HNwZ

— FakeNewsBusterMoIB (@FakeNews_Buster) October 3, 2018

This is the first instance where a reputable institute has been discredited by the government.