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Islamabad: Facebook's vice president Joel Kaplan on Friday met Pakistan's Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan and discussed various measures being taken to remove blasphemous content from the popular social networking site.

Kaplan, who is visiting Pakistan, exchanged views with the interior minister about actions being taken to make the social networking site free of material hurting the religious sentiments of people.

Representational image. Reuters

Khan's office in a statement said that the Facebook vice president reiterated commitment to keep the platform safe and promote values that are in congruence with its community standards.

He also committed to remove fake accounts, explicit, hateful and provocative material that incites violence and terrorism.

In the meeting, Khan said that Pakistan is playing a proactive role in engaging the Internet service providers and finding solution to the issue of misuse of social media.

He said the entire Muslim community is "greatly disturbed and has serious concerns over the misuse of social media platforms to propagate blasphemous content".

"Nothing is more sacred to us than our religion and our holy personalities," said the minister.

He said the government of Pakistan firmly believes in freedom of expression but we cannot allow anyone to misuse social media for hurting religious sentiments or undertaking unlawful activities.

He also appreciated the understanding shown by the Facebook administration and the cooperation being extended to on these issues.

The interior minister appreciated Facebook for bridging communication gaps and providing people a platform not only to interact but also serving as a vehicle for promotion of education, businesses, socio-economic development and empowering women in the country.

He also encouraged Facebook to open up office in Pakistan.

Kaplan highlighted various initiatives of the social networking site that are aimed at skill development and economic growth programmes in Pakistan, working with developers, small businesses and women in the country.

He said that Facebooks Developers Circles, a free community-led programme for developers to connect, learn and collaborated with other local developers, have been started in Lahore and Karachi and would be launched in Islamabad soon.

Lahore is one of the largest Developer Circles in the world with more than 2000 community members.

Kaplan also informed the minister that Facebook has recently launched a digital literacy campaign called iChamp with a goal to touch secondary schools on a mass scale across Pakistan to educate youth on the benefits and safe use of the Internet.

The programme will be supported by Facebook's Free Basic project that provides free access to dozens of fun and learning websites.

This is for the first time that a senior member of Facebook management dealing with global public policy has visited Pakistan to discuss measures for addressing the issue of misuse of social media platforms especially Facebook which has over 33 million users in the country at the moment.

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Facebook assures Pakistan to remove blasphemous posts, prevent misuse of social media - Firstpost

by Alexander O. Onukwue

The first mention of Badoo for some people had really been about the social networking site, focused on dating and dalliances. But it has not been big in Nigeria since its launch in 2006 so that when you turned your Twitter and saw it was trending, you only reluctantly presumed it was the latest acquisition in the Mark Zuckerberg push to monopolise social media.

Then the conversation became about killings, stabbing, and the burning of people and it became clear that the Yankee platform is actually called /baduu/. On the other hand, this Nigerian phenomenon phonetically ending with an o is a vicious anti-social network that has left a trail of terror and grief since its launch since God knows when.

Like most people found on social media, the cult group resident and operational in Ikorodu are populated by active youth, mostly male but with possible female wings. Their purpose is not love, dating or the exchange of snaps, but to kill, to steal and to destroy. They have killed people with reckless abandon and the retaliatory attempt by residents or a counter group to mob them has led to many tragic and innocent deaths.

The origins of the cult is not yet known, but it does appear to have been around a while. Local sites like InsideMainland have had stories about their usual storms, but it is ironic that much of the attention that has come to covering it recently has been the killing of innocents resulting from the effort to cut them down.

Badoos infamy has made the possession of whistles and machetes a necessity for some households, according to the Vanguard. Nobody really wants to be chopped and burnt in the middle of the night as many have been, and with the new attack at a Church, one wonders whether church attendants would choose to provide an extra accessory for their Bibles.

Ikorodu is restless because of Badoo, turning it into a literal no-go area. It is a menace that has the possibility of spreading its toxicity, and just as the policies of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are strict and decisive in rooting our unacceptable behaviour, authorities must act swiftly to put a definitive end to this wild anti-social network.

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Badoo: The anti-social network we thought Facebook had bought - YNaija

Illustration by Ben Merrylees

Snapchat lights up on 800 million screens, Instagram opens on 500 million screens and Facebook is seen on 1.8 billion screens each month.

Odds are, if you have a smartphone, you have at least one of these social media apps. In fact, the website Statista declares, As of 2016, 78 percent of the United States population has a social networking profile. Thats nearly four out of five Americans. The majority of users on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook are young people from the millennial and centennial generations. Many older, electronically challenged people are teased because of their inability to understand and navigate through the inner workings of these websites. They are commonly confused by the purpose of such networks. However, youths seem to know exactly what, where and when to post on each. An adult will ask Why post this here and that there? and Whats the point in having all three? A teen might say, Because thats just how it is. But, its the varying structures of social networks that result in specific behavioral norms on these apps, allowing for different means of self-expression.

Snapchat enables individual messages to be sent from one friend to another in the form of a video or image, potentially with a caption. Users can also send a text message on the apps chat feature. The most prominent characteristic of this network is that it is temporary. Once a picture is received, it cannot be seen again. Once a video is uploaded to a users story, the ten-seconds-or-under recording will disappear after 24 hours. Of course, there are exceptions. The capturer of these moments is able to save their memories to their own device. The same goes for chats, unless they are saved, they will vanish when the screen displaying the text is closed. The receiver of the moment is also able to save an image by taking a screenshot.

Snapchat is, the most popular (app) by a landslide, says Business Insider after interviewing 60 teenagers from across America. The format of this network allows users to instantly send their chosen friend(s) a view of what theyre doing at an exact moment. There is no carried weight or fear of judgement that comes with the permanence of posts on other apps. This causes users to behave carelessly, sending ugly selfies and blurry pictures of comedic incidents. With access to easy, rapid communication like this, Snapchat doesnt fail to fascinate its users.

Instagram successfully captivates an audience of 300 million active users daily. With a focus on photos, this apps grid-like format clearly displays posted images and allows for simple viewing. The most recent photo uploaded appears in the upper left corner under a persons profile. The app also has direct message where users communicate through texting. The number of followers is shown beside the username and amount of likes is seen under each image or under-one-minute video. Depending on who a user follows and the more pictures they look at, the more the search page will show photos that reflect that persons preferences.

Professional Instagrams run by businesses, photographers, and models thrive on this network due to the easy publicity. Eye-catching photographs encourage large amounts of people to tap the follow button so they can see the images a person posts by scrolling through their home screen. Growing numbers of followers motivate amatuer photographers to obtain as many likes as they can, as they attempt to craft their pictures into a piece of art. Helper apps like VSCO and Instasize are made for users to edit their photos. Dramatic selfies, scenic views, images of food and pictures against colorful walls (all taken on smartphones) fill the majority of feeds.

This growing amount of high quality images has pressured users into making additional accounts called finstas (fake instagrams) where they post whatever they want without worry of quality, theme or aesthetic. Finstas are often filled with impulsive images and ridiculous screenshots, whereas real accounts contain carefully crafted photo art. Artsy photos from friends next door and humorous videos from friends across the sea both are seen on an Instagrammers home screen.

On a Facebook home screen, photographs and text are there for all to see, however, this website has much more. The app constantly encourages users to post by displaying, Whats on your mind? at the top of the home page along with suggesting that people Check In (at this location). Like Instagram, users can post photos, videos, promote their business and see what friends are doing. However, only on Facebook will people successfully connect with one another in a way no other website can. Family photos are posted, events are scheduled, public service announcement videos are spread, emotions are voiced and birthday reminders show up everyday. This format is designed for people to create a profile that exhibits who they are and what they think. Facebook becomes an archive with photos and updates informing users of their friends whereabouts, activities and emotions.

Facebook also provides a separate app called Messenger which is nearly identical to iMessage on Apple products. People talk directly with their Facebook friends and make group chats for easy communication. Facebook is the most widely used social media network with ages ranging from tweens to octogenarians. But, why does everyone have it? Facebook makes the complicated, arduous task of communicating simple. People want to feel like they are still involved with their friends lives. Talking on the phone is a hassle, writing a letter is burdensome, but liking a Facebook post is nearly effortless. Although this downplays the importance of true correspondence, a like or comment is like someone saying, Hey, this is cool and I care enough to tell you that. Facebook is the ultimate network for communicating.

The telos of social media is to connect and apps like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook do a good job at bridging the gap between people. These networks act as lenses into a persons world, each showing a varying perspective in a unique format. The website Statista remarks that, the number of worldwide users is expected to reach some 2.95 billion by 2020, around a third of Earths entire population. This mass amount of electronic connection is powerful. To consumers, programmers revise the structure of a network in, what seems like, a blink of an eye. With only a small update, the way people communicate, behave and express themselves can be changed for billions. The internet did not become widely used until 20 years ago. It was just starting to exist 30 years ago. Today we tap our fingers on a screen and send a video to a person thousands of miles away within seconds. Look at how much we can do now and then imagine how much well be doing next.

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Snapchat? Instagram? An Analysis of Social Media - Montpelier Bridge

A study of adult social network users in Russia has found that humor and health are the topics most likely to draw their attention in the social realm.

According to April 2017 research from Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), the most popular social media topics were humor, mentioned by 43% of respondents, health (41%) and news (41%).

But age, gender and location skew those preferences.

For example, young adultsages 18 to 24were most interested in humor, sport, and science and technologies; but their older counterparts, those ages 60 and older, sought out news, health and food topics.

And among genders, men preferred sport, cars, and science and technologies topics, while women said they most often opted for topics such as healthy lifestyle, food and recipes, as well as family and children.

When it came to which social networking sites users turned to most, homegrown sites VK (formerly Vkontakte) and Odnoklassniki.ru remained the most popular by far, used by 61% and 54% of respondents, respectively.

Most respondents used those sites at least several times a week, if not every day or almost daily. Among VK users, 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 54% of 25- to 34-year-olds turned to it daily.

The US-import sites that dominate much of the rest of internet users social networking in Europe and the wider Western world remain much less popular in Russia. VCIOMs study found only 20% of the countrys social networkers used Facebook, and only 11% used Twitter. Photo-focused Instagram was used by 25%, which was enough to make it Russias third most popular social site.

Overall social network usage continues to grow in Russia. This year, 75.0 million people in the country are expected to use a social network at least once per month, up 3.6% from 2016, according to eMarketers most recent forecast for that activity in Central and Eastern Europe.

Other researchers have found most of those users are open to following brands on social sites. In an April 2017 study by Mail.Ru, which owns VK, Odnoklassniki and My.com, 66% of social network users in Russia ages 14 and older queried said they followed brand pages on those sites.

Cliff Annicelli

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To Reach Social Networkers in Russia, Be Funny - eMarketer - eMarketer

A few days after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8 last year, a video surfaced on social media showing Wani and an accomplice tapping their rifles and humming a Kashmiri folk song playing in the background. The lyrics of the song in the video went: You will miss me, o mother, when I will be buried under the earth...

That video touched a chord with many in Kashmir where militants enjoy wide public support. Any Kashmiri will cry, the video touches you, a 40-year-old woman from old Srinagar said.

Viral videos that capture militants at play and leisure, shocking videos of alleged rights excesses committed by security forces on Kashmiri civilians, the alleged use of instant messaging platforms to mobilise stone pelters and recruit foot soldiers for militants and the frequent gags on internet are bringing a paradigm shift in the narrative of the Valleys conflict. But the government seems to be losing the online war, with the militants and separatists seemingly always a step ahead. The week-long protest calendar by separatists to mark Wanis first death anniversary calls for a Kashmir Awareness campaign on social media.

The PDP-BJP government is the most unpopular government Kashmir has seen in the last decade. So even if the government tries to reach out to people through social media, it wont make much of a difference for its public relations because I think it will face similar kind of criticism on social media to the one it faces on ground, says Irfan Mehraj, an activist with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and editor of e-magazine Wande.

Militants are no longer faceless. They wear military fatigues, strap ammunition across their chests and smile at you from forests. Given how successfully Wani struck a chord with people through social media and attracted youngsters, newer militants are trying out the same.

Read |Kashmirs disturbing new reality

Police sources say although they check and analyse all latest militant videos, they are not dependant on them for gathering information on insurgents who are already profiled by police intelligence. But Kashmir watchers, like senior journalist and former Kashmir bureau chief of Reuters Sheikh Mushtaq, point out that militant videos play a huge role in humanising the insurgents to the common population and putting forward their viewpoint. You see them and get to know them through these videos. They penetrate your computers and mobile phones. This is quite different from the militancy of the 1990s, when there were no such technologies.

Stone-pelting protesters now shoot videos of clashes and upload them onto social media almost in real time. Many such videos were shared widely after a clash near an encounter site in Kulgam in February. With commentary on how forces were allegedly shooting at protesters and killing Kashmiris, the videos captured disturbing visuals from the clashes.

Director general of state police, SP Vaid, says police is successfully putting a check on all sorts of militancy propaganda on social media.

Videos capturing atrocities and human rights violations of Kashmiris have dominated the narrative this year and proved to be a major headache for the administration.

In April, a video emerged of a group of Kashmiri youth heckling CRPF jawans returning from duty on the day of Srinagar bypolls on April 9 and resulted in a national outrage. What followed, however, was a torrent of videos showing security forces committing atrocities and human rights excesses on civilians, including using a human shield by the army and the targeted shooting of a teenage stone pelter on the day of the bypoll.

Read |Facts, allegations: Tracking Major Gogois human shield story

Army Major Leetul Gogoi tied Kashmiri shawl weaver, Farooq Dar, to the bonnet of a jeep as a human shield and drove him around for five hours across 17 villages over 28km on April 9. A video of the act, which surfaced a few days later and was shared by many. including former chief minister Omar Abdullah. had put the spotlight on the now infamous act. Soon after these videos went viral, the administration on April 17 snapped high-speed mobile internet services and on April 26, banned 22 social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, for a month.

Internet gags check violence or curb dissent?

The security establishment tries to keep pace through its cyber cells but the governments main response is to snap mobile internet services, like it did after Wani was killed. Post-paid mobile internet services were restored in mid-November, while pre-paid services were restored on January 30 this year making the blackout period the longest in Kashmir till now.

The blackout did not stop youth from mobilising in large number and organising stone pelting protests. The unrest that began after Wanis death left over 90 people dead last year. The idea that without internet there would be no street protests was also debunked when both broadband and mobile internet services were snapped across Kashmir for the bypolls in Srinagar constituency eight civilian protesters were gunned down by forces that day. Senior police officers, however, argue that with functioning internet, the scale of violence would have been higher.

The suspension of 3G and 4G services in April was to curb the uploading of multimedia content that could provoke violence, while letting users access the basic minimum internet on their phones.

Read | Secret browsers, encrypted messages: How Kashmiris are dodging social media gag

Similarly, the April 26 order by state home secretary RK Goyal to ban 22 sites said the step was taken because the government felt that continued misuse of social networking sites and instant messaging services is likely to be detrimental to the interests of peace and tranquility in the state. The social media ban turned out to be a colossal failure. Most Kashmiri users switched on to Virtual Private Network (VPN) apps to overcome the ban and what came as a real surprise was that the Whos Who of Kashmir were all leading a busy social media life throughout the ban.

This year, internet services were completely or partially snapped at least seven times in Kashmir. But activists say the administration is clueless about how to control the space, which is being increasingly used for dissent, and hence gags it.

Kashmiris chose dissent online, because the offline real world democracy wasnt working. Even then they were pushed to the wall. The ban on social media was the peaking of an authoritarian state that cant tolerate dissent. The state has lost both the battles offline and online. Now its just brutalisation that works in reality and virtually, says Srinagar-based blogger Muhammad Faysal, who has over 15,000 followers on Twitter.

According to data since 2012 provided by internet shutdowns.in, a project by the Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC), Jammu and Kashmir has recorded 35 instances of complete or partial internet shutdowns, the highest among states.

Govt talks only of developmental work

CM Mehbooba Mufti has a verified Twitter account with around 21,000 followers, but is yet to write her first tweet. On the other hand, the leader of opposition, former CM Omar Abdullah, is a Twitter star with 1.88 million followers and a tweet on almost every topic relevant to Kashmiris.

The PDPs official Twitter handle is mostly focused on promoting the developmental work of the government. Mehboobas verified Facebook page is a collection of videos of her public appearances and short press statements.

The ruling dispensations engagement on social media is mostly related to sharing news about development work and success stories. Thats their mandate. They do not go beyond that. If they express anguish over civilian killings or injuries, they will face tough questions by social media users, said Moazum Mohammad, a journalist with English daily Kashmir Reader.

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Let's talk about Kashmir: Social media has been a game changer, and militants have a head start - Hindustan Times