Latest news with #NationalCyberCrime
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pakistan seeks YouTube ban on 27 opposition and journalist channels
Alphabet-owned YouTube has informed more than two dozen critics of the Pakistani government that it is reviewing a court directive seeking to block their channels for allegedly being 'anti-state'. The channels at risk of being blocked in Pakistan include those belonging to the main opposition party, its leader and jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as well as several journalists critical of the government, according to a court order dated June 24 and circulated this week. The judicial magistrate court in Islamabad said it was seeking the ban after the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency criticised the channels in a June 2 report for 'sharing highly intimidating, provocative and derogatory contents against state institutions and officials of the state of Pakistan'. Digital rights campaigners say that any ban would further undermine free speech in Pakistan, where the authorities are accused of stifling newspapers and television, and social media is seen as one of the few outlets for told 27 content creators that their channels could be taken down if they did not comply with the court orders. 'If you fail to do so, as per our local law obligations, we may comply with the request without further notice,' the popular video-sharing platform said in emails this week to the channel owners. YouTube's regional communications manager did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment. Pakistan's State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said the content creators would also face criminal charges. 'You cannot use these cellphones and the social media to create chaos,' he told local Geo News TV. 'There are laws to regulate, and they will have to work under these laws,' he said. One of the creators, Asad Toor, who was among those served the court order, shared the document on X. The order listed the names of the blocked channels, including those run by prominent journalists and content creators such as Imran Riaz Khan, Matiullah Jan, and Habib Akram. Toor, who has more than 333,000 YouTube subscribers, said the move was aimed at undermining fundamental and constitutional rights of the people, political parties and other dissident groups. 'It is not about me. It is about these people who are on the left side of the state,' he told Reuters. 'I have dedicated my platform for these underdogs who have no place to go to and raise their voices against the state oppression.' The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed concern about the court order, saying the blanket ban 'conflates dissent with criminal activity'. 'The wholesale blocking of entire channels—rather than addressing specific instances of unlawful or hateful speech — sets a dangerous precedent,' HRCP said in a statement. After the government clamped down on traditional media, many independent reporters migrated to YouTube, as did journalists and commentators sympathetic to Khan, who was removed from office in 2022. 'It's not only about anchors getting fired or YouTube channels getting banned. It's what they are not allowing to be told and the human rights abuse they are trying to hide from the world,' said Zulfikar Bukhari, a spokesperson for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Khan has said his party has faced a military-backed crackdown since his removal, a charge the army denies. 'In this day and age, you can't suppress digital media,' said Bukhari. The order is the latest in a series of laws and regulations from Islamabad that have enabled the authorities to crack down on critics and dissidents. It has blocked social media platforms like X, Facebook and TikTok on several occasions. In January, Pakistan's parliament introduced a new amendment in the Electronic Crimes Act to further regulate cyber content, which included a new social media regulatory authority with its own investigation agency and tribunals. Such tribunals will be able to try and punish alleged offenders with prison sentences of as long as three years and fines of two million rupees ($7,200) for dissemination of information deemed 'false or fake'.
Al Jazeera
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Pakistan seeks YouTube ban on 27 opposition and journalist channels
Alphabet-owned YouTube has informed more than two dozen critics of the Pakistani government that it is reviewing a court directive seeking to block their channels for allegedly being 'anti-state'. The channels at risk of being blocked in Pakistan include those belonging to the main opposition party, its leader and jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as well as several journalists critical of the government, according to a court order dated June 24 and circulated this week. The judicial magistrate court in Islamabad said it was seeking the ban after the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency criticised the channels in a June 2 report for 'sharing highly intimidating, provocative and derogatory contents against state institutions and officials of the state of Pakistan'. Digital rights campaigners say that any ban would further undermine free speech in Pakistan, where the authorities are accused of stifling newspapers and television, and social media is seen as one of the few outlets for dissent. YouTube told 27 content creators that their channels could be taken down if they did not comply with the court orders. 'If you fail to do so, as per our local law obligations, we may comply with the request without further notice,' the popular video-sharing platform said in emails this week to the channel owners, according to a notice seen by the Reuters news agency. YouTube's regional communications manager did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment. Threat of criminal charges Pakistan's State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said the content creators would also face criminal charges. 'You cannot use these cellphones and the social media to create chaos,' he told local Geo News TV. 'There are laws to regulate, and they will have to work under these laws,' he said. One of the creators, Asad Toor, who was among those served the court order, shared the document on X. The order listed the names of the blocked channels, including those run by prominent journalists and content creators such as Imran Riaz Khan, Matiullah Jan, and Habib Akram. 🚨🚨Received this from @YouTube. State think they can silent us but I assure everybody that I will keep covering Balochs, Missing persons, Blasphemy gang victims, minorities, fundamental rights, compromised judges, rigged elections, hybrid regime & unconditional role of forces. — Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) July 8, 2025 Toor, who has more than 333,000 YouTube subscribers, said the move was aimed at undermining fundamental and constitutional rights of the people, political parties and other dissident groups. 'It is not about me. It is about these people who are on the left side of the state,' he told Reuters. 'I have dedicated my platform for these underdogs who have no place to go to and raise their voices against the state oppression.' The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed concern about the court order, saying the blanket ban 'conflates dissent with criminal activity'. 'The wholesale blocking of entire channels—rather than addressing specific instances of unlawful or hateful speech — sets a dangerous precedent,' HRCP said in a statement. HRCP is greatly concerned by the recent court directive blocking 27 YouTube channels, reportedly following a complaint by the Federal Investigation Agency. The wholesale blocking of entire channels—rather than addressing specific instances of unlawful or hateful speech in… — Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) July 9, 2025 After the government clamped down on traditional media, many independent reporters migrated to YouTube, as did journalists and commentators sympathetic to Khan, who was removed from office in 2022. 'It's not only about anchors getting fired or YouTube channels getting banned. It's what they are not allowing to be told and the human rights abuse they are trying to hide from the world,' said Zulfikar Bukhari, a spokesperson for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Khan has said his party has faced a military-backed crackdown since his removal, a charge the army denies. 'In this day and age, you can't suppress digital media,' said Bukhari. Government crackdown The order is the latest in a series of laws and regulations from Islamabad that have enabled the authorities to crack down on critics and dissidents. It has blocked social media platforms like X, Facebook and TikTok on several occasions. In January, Pakistan's parliament introduced a new amendment in the Electronic Crimes Act to further regulate cyber content, which included a new social media regulatory authority with its own investigation agency and tribunals. Such tribunals will be able to try and punish alleged offenders with prison sentences of as long as three years and fines of two million rupees ($7,200) for dissemination of information deemed 'false or fake'.
Hans India
17-05-2025
- Hans India
Fifteen complaints just in weekdays: SP Akhil Mahajan
Adilabad: Cyber criminals are using new methods to cheat people in the present society said superintendent of police Akhil Mahajan. He said that cyber crimes can be stopped only with the awareness and alertness of people. He said that at present, the APK files on social media on Telegram on WhatsApp are like mobile control in the hands of cybercriminals and vigilance is the main tool to prevent them. If you are cheated by fraudsters, the first duty is to immediately complain to the National Cyber Crime Helpline Number 1930 or the cybercrime website. He said that 15 complaints have been received in just a week days. across the district, especially in the wake of new methods being used by cybercrime criminals such as investment fraud, loan fraud, UPI fraud, APK files, fake websites, stock market fraud, etc. Giving an example of the method used by cybercrime criminals, he said that investment rods typically show more money on their own websites than they have invested. In the limits Of Adilabad 1-Town police station, a person was sent a link through Telegram telling the victim that he could earn money by doing business and investment through WhatsApp, and he was told that he should give ratings to hotels, believing that the victim paid about Rs 40,000 through UPI payment. In another incident, cyber criminals took the details of the account from the victim and stole Rs. 21,000 from the victim under the pretext of providing financial assistance to a person in Bela Mandal using the name of a private individual who is popular among the people. Similarly, a report was submitted on behalf of the district police to Instagram with a complaint that a fake account was created on social media Instagram in Adilabad Rural and the person's name was being harassed by making video calls and messages to family members and friends and well-wishers. A person from Jainath Mandal, who had received a loan through Mudra Finance, made a video call and informed the victim to pay some money in advance, and about Rs.22,150 was stolen from him.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Time of India
Fraudster hacks woman's email, dupes her of 6.1 lakh in Malad
Mumbai: A 30-year-old woman's email was hacked by a fraudster, her bank OTPs accessed and her credit card misused to the tune of Rs 6.16 lakh. The woman told the police that she had never used her credit card for any transactions nor had she shared OTPs with anyone. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The Malad Police registered an FIR and are probing further. The woman lives in Malad with her family and works in a private firm. She uses four credit cards. The incident dates back to July 2024 but an FIR was registered on April 29 after preliminary inquiries. On July 21 last year, the woman was home when, around 1pm, she received an email about one of her credit cards being used for a transaction of Rs 50,900 on a credit card payment portal. Shortly afterwards, she received an email about another credit card being used for a transaction of Rs 99,764 on a credit card payment portal. She received a string of emails thereafter about each of her four credit cards being used. Some of the cards were used for buying shoes and others were used on credit card payment portals. She lost Rs 6.16 lakh collectively. The woman told investigators she was taken aback as nobody had called her to ask for OTPs nor shared any fraudulent link with her. She added that neither she nor her family members had used the credit cards for any online transactions. She said she hadn't shared her credit card information with anyone either. She tried reaching out to the four banks after the fraud, but did not get a satisfactory response from them. She then lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime portal. She suspected that her email had been hacked and the OTPs accessed by fraudsters. She then decided to approach the police.
