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Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of Meta, has disclosed why he steers clear of visiting Pakistan. Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Zuckerberg revealed that he once encountered legal issues in Pakistan due to blasphemy allegations. The Meta chief did not delve into specifics but indicated that the matter had a significant impact on his travel decisions.
As the parent organisation of Facebook and Instagram, Meta has previously encountered scrutiny in multiple nations regarding its content moderation policies. In recounting an incident from 2010, he stated that a criminal investigation was initiated against him in Pakistan due to a blasphemous contest conducted on Facebook.
“The investigation was launched under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws that can carry the death penalty,” he said, clarifying that the situation arose when an individual highlighted that the act of creating caricatures constituted blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) within Islamic culture. “This led to legal action in Pakistan, preventing me from travelling there due to possible legal risks.”
Zuckerberg also underscored the difficulties that technology companies encounter in navigating the diverse cultural and legal frameworks across the globe. “There are all these places around the world that just have different values… and want us to crack down on and ban way more stuff than I think a lot of people would believe is the right thing to do,” he noted.
It is noteworthy that there has been a significant increase in the number of cases related to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in recent years. The majority of these cases involve allegations of blasphemy disseminated via social media platforms.
In last month, a court imposed the death penalty on four individuals for uploading blasphemous content on Facebook. Additional Sessions Judge Mohammad Tariq Ayub found Wajid Ali, Ahfaq Ali Saqib, Rana Usman, and Suleman Sajid guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
“The judge after hearing arguments of both prosecution and defence and witnesses accounts awarded the death penalty and 80 years imprisonment to each of them on different counts,” reports quoted an official as saying.
Meanwhile, a report published by the Special Branch in Punjab has disclosed that more than 400 young individuals, both male and female, are allegedly facing persecution in Pakistan under the blasphemy law for disseminating content deemed blasphemous on the internet.
The report indicated that a dubious organisation known as “The Blasphemy Business” was ensnaring juvenile boys and girls into “committing” acts of blasphemy, subsequently reporting them to the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA). The gang was allegedly perpetrating this egregious act for monetary profit.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has validated the receipt of a report concerning the group known as “The Blasphemy Business” in January 2024. The report indicated that a particular gang was the complainant in 90 percent of blasphemy cases, as stated in the document.
