KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is claimed to have put in place a monitoring system following the government directives about a crackdown against those spreading extremism and hatred on social media and said it would not wait for any complaint to take action against any individual or group as legally it can take cognizance against anyone for “committing such an offence’.
A senior official confirmed that after the decision of the federal government, all three FIA cybercrime centres in Sindh — Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur — had been officially directed to keep a close eye on social media and all digital platforms.
“We have three centres of the cybercrime wing in Sindh,” said FIA Director Younus Chandio. “Heads of all these centres and their chain of command have formally been informed about the task and objective. We monitor social and digital media platforms regularly. After the government decision, more efforts are being made and we are more vigilant this time.”
Recently, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had stirred a storm by announcing that a crackdown was expected soon against extremism on social media as rights activists expressed scepticism about the move. The agency can take legal action without receiving any formal complaint under cybercrime law
