NACTA develops portal to counter extremism online

The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has developed an online reporting portal aimed at countering online extremism as well as abuse of internet and social media.

“Surf safer” is an online portal which allows Pakistanis to report extremist content online freely, securely and anonymously.

The responsive web portal also serves as “eyes and ears” in the cyber sphere to counter radical and extremist ideology in the online realm.

The implementation status (NACTA Review – December 2017) of National Action Plan (NAP) revealed that the mission of “surf safer” is to counter online extremism, map and eliminate extremist content, help victims of extremism by regaining space for values of moderation, love and fraternity in the cyber sphere through community participation and ultimately make the internet a safer place for everyone.

In order to filter social media websites and enable vigilance against cyber-crimes, the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act-2016 has already been passed by Parliament and constant vigilance of internet traffic has resulted in blocking of 1,447 URLs which hosted extremist content.

NACTA and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are continuously coordinating on this issue.

The review further revealed that a mobile application has been developed and is available at Google Play Store and Apple Store.

NACTA’s Android and iOS applications are user-friendly systems which enable a common citizen to report any incidence of hate speech or extremist content in the form of video, audio, photo and URL/text visible to them on the cyber sphere.