A senior official of Facebook on Friday said the networking service will cooperate with Pakistani officials take down 'blasphemous content' from social media.
Joel Kaplan, vice president of the social media giant, met Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar in Islamabad, a spokesperson for the ministry said in a statement.
“Facebook is committed to keeping the platform safe and promote values that are in congruence with its Community Standards,” said Kaplan.
“We are also committed to removing fake accounts, explicit, hateful and provocative material that incites violence and terrorism.”
Blasphemy has been a contentious issue in the country where people have been murdered over allegations of sacrilege.
The government has intensified crackdown against blasphemy related crimes on social media with the civilian Federal Investigation Agency having apprehended dozens.
Interior Minister Nisar said the state won’t allow any of its citizen to post statements that hurt religious sentiments.
“The government believes in freedom of expression but we cannot allow anyone to misuse social media for hurting religious sentiments or undertake unlawful activities,” he added.
Nisar said officials were working with Facebook to ensure that any controversial material does not go unchecked. “We appreciate the understanding shown by the Facebook administration and the cooperation being extended to us on these issues,” he added.
The minister said Muslim community all over the world has reservations to what he said is the misuse of online platforms to propagate blasphemous content.
“Nothing is more sacred to us than our religion and our holy personalities,” he added.