Pakistan parliament bans entry of YouTubers, TikTokers, social media influencers into premises

Pakistan National Assembly took the decision after an incident of misbehaviour with lawmakers by some unauthorised YouTuber/social media influencers.

Islamabad: The Pakistan National Assembly Secretariat has banned the entry of YouTubers, TikTokers and other social media influencers into its premises, ARY News reported. The decision has been taken after an incident of misbehaviour with lawmakers by some unauthorised YouTuber/social media influencers at Gate No 1 of Parliament House on December 23 last year, as per the ARY News report. Furthermore, the Pakistan National Assembly Secretariat has decided to permit the entry of only those reporters, journalists and media personnel associated with Accredited Media Organizations along with a valid registration card of a concerned media organisation. Social media influencers who wish to cover the proceedings of the National Assembly need to accredit themselves with PID and must have a valid session card for entering the Parliament House, as per the news report. The Press Reporters Association was informed about the incident, Dawn reported. 

However, the Press Reporters Association distanced itself from YouTubers and social media influencers and stressed that they were only responsible for its members. Press Reporters Association Secretary General Asif Bashir Chaudhry said that they did not back any kind of ban on citizen journalists, Dawn reported. Chaudhry stressed that PRA believed that every citizen of Pakistan enjoyed right to freedom and not only journalists.

Earlier in April last year, Karachi police arrested fake cops in police uniforms who had counterfeit employment cards in New Karachi Industrial Area, ARY News reported. The fake cops were identified after suspicious cops were stopped for a snap-checking. In the investigation, police found that all the men were TikTokers and were roaming around in police uniforms for recording videos for social media, as per the ARY News report. 

The arrested men in the case included Umaish, Usama and Mehdi. The accused men had also installed Sindh police number plates on their motorcycles and also had fake police cards. According to police, they used to record videos in college and in the area.