A PAKISTANI man appeared in court Wednesday (21) to face charges of cyber terrorism after allegedly spreading disinformation on his clickbait website thought to have fuelled anti-immigration riots in Britain.
Farhan Asif was accused of publishing an article on his Channel3Now website falsely claiming that a Muslim asylum seeker was suspected in a deadly knife attack on children in the UK.
British authorities have blamed online misinformation for sparking days of riots which targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers as well as police officers and other properties.
"He is a 31-year-old software engineer with no journalism credentials, apart from running the Channel3Now website, which served as a source of income for him," a senior official at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency said on condition of anonymity.
"Initial investigations indicate that his sole intent was to make money through clickbait content."
The riots began after false information circulated online after three young girls were killed in a knife attack in the northern English town of Southport in late July.
Asif was arrested in eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, a statement from the FIA said.
It said Asif posted an article on his X social media account which said that the attacker was a Muslim immigrant, and also shared pictures of the killings.
Having picked up the fake content from another X account, he was found to be involved in "disseminating the information using his own Twitter (X) account Channel3NOwnews with the intent to glorify the incident about the arrest of a Muslim Asylum seeker by police in the stabbing incident in Southport, England and created a sense of fear, panic, insecurity," the FIA added.
According to the FIR, the suspect uploaded an article on his website, with the title "17-year-old Ali Al Shakati arrested in connection with a stabbing incident in Southport England."
"The false name widely shared on social media spurred the far-right section into a violent rioting. Asif admitted to providing misleading information to BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others," it said.
The FIA said it raided Aif's residence along with police and arrested him.
A senior FIA official said that the Pakistan government might consider handing the suspect over to Britain if it requested his extradition because it is a "very serious matter."
Asif has yet to appoint a lawyer and he and his family were not immediately reachable for comment, nor was the X account when Reuters tried to message it.
A court remanded the accused into the custody of the FIA for one day on Wednesday for further investigation, the statement said.
The FIA said Asif, upon realising the mistake, issued an apology and deleted the post from all social media accounts, but the disinformation kept gaining traction as it kept being shared by other users and garnering views online.
On Tuesday (20), Lahore police said that they had interrogated Asif regarding the article. He admitted to writing the piece based on unverified information taken from a UK-based social media account, a police officer said.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that 494 individuals have been charged in connection with the recent riots and disturbances. Over 130 people have already been sentenced, with the majority receiving prison terms.
(Agencies)
Martin Rosenbaum (Pic credit: rosenbaum.org.uk)
“This judgement is important for journalists and journalism,” says Eastern Eye’s executive editor, Shailesh Solanki.
