Pakistan mulling ban on WhatsApp, YouTube in government offices

The Information Technology board has recommended that the government ban social networking websites such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube in government offices. 

In a briefing to a standing committee of the National Assembly, the board also advised that a separate authority be set up to combat the spread of fake news across the country. 

According to reports, the technology board told the standing committee that government employees spent a lot of their office time on social websites, and even conduct part time business on them.

In order to stop this practice, the committee was informed that a new local social network, modeled on WhatsApp, would be introduced into government offices to streamline communications. 

Concerns related to data theft and other issues were also discussed in the briefing. Recently, a spate of leaked notifications from government offices have sparked anger in power circles. 

It has even led to the practice of fake notifications being circulated on social media to discredit a particular governmental agency or official. The technology board has urged the government to act against this threat.