{"id":42138,"date":"2026-02-28T15:04:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T15:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42138"},"modified":"2026-02-28T15:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T15:04:39","slug":"pta-warns-against-irresponsible-social-media-use-amid-sensitive-national-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42138","title":{"rendered":"PTA warns against irresponsible social media use amid ‘sensitive national situation’"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) urged citizens on Saturday to exercise responsibility while using social media and digital platforms in view of the prevailing sensitive national situation.<\/p>\n

The PTA\u2019s instruction came amid \u201cfalse\u201d reports circulated by Afghan Taliban officials and amplified by Indian media, claiming that Afghan forces had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Nangarhar and captured its pilot.<\/p>\n

Pakistani security forces have launched\u00a0\u201cOperation Ghazab Lil Haq,\u201d\u00a0carrying out coordinated air and ground strikes against Afghan Taliban positions in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia and Nangarhar, as well as several other locations, following what officials described as unprovoked cross-border aggression.<\/p>\n

In a statement posted on X, the authority advised the public not to share, disseminate, forward or upload any unverified, inflammatory or misleading information that could directly or indirectly harm national interests, public order or state institutions.<\/p>\n

Public Advisory: In view of the prevailing sensitive national situation, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) urges all citizens to be responsible while using social media and digital platforms.<\/p>\n

All citizens are advised not to share, disseminate, forward, or upload any\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/uN2tqHPg2s
\n\u2014 PTA (@PTAofficialpk) February 28, 2026<\/p>\n

The PTA stressed the need to rely solely on authentic information based on official sources and to refrain from spreading rumours.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharing any fake news or false information is liable to legal action in accordance with applicable laws,\u201d the statement warned.<\/p>\n

The regulator called upon citizens to act with caution, maturity and a strong sense of national responsibility to help maintain stability and public confidence during the current circumstances.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the information ministry said it exposed the false Afghan and Indian media propaganda about the alleged capture of a Pakistani pilot.<\/p>\n

The ministry emphasised that all Pakistan Air Force aircraft are accounted for, with no losses reported, and all pilots are safe. In a\u00a0statement, the government said there was no official confirmation from authorities of any aircraft loss and no independent international media outlet, defence monitoring agency, or satellite intelligence source had verified the claim.<\/p>\n

No evidence of aircraft loss<\/p>\n

The narrative relied solely on statements from Afghan officials and selective media amplification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no visual proof of crash debris, wreckage site or captured pilot,\u201d the ministry said, adding that no geolocated imagery or satellite evidence supports the claim. It noted that in modern conflict environments, verified aircraft crashes are typically documented quickly — something that has not occurred in this case. The ministry further said videos circulating on social media as alleged evidence of the jet crash were old or unrelated clips.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Pakistan rejects \u2018false\u2019 claims of jet shot down in Nangarhar<\/p>\n

According to the statement, some of the viral footage was from an unrelated panic situation in Afghanistan and had been recycled to fit the false narrative.<\/p>\n

Image linked to unrelated incident<\/p>\n

A misleading image shared by\u00a0TOLO News, saying the photo of a fallen aircraft was not from Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe image corresponds to a Russian aircraft incident in Turkey in 2021,\u201d the statement said, calling the reuse of unrelated foreign crash imagery a deliberate attempt to construct a false narrative. The ministry said that over the past two days, hundreds of fake or misleading videos linked to what it described as an India-Afghan propaganda ecosystem had been debunked.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) urged citizens on Saturday to exercise responsibility while using social media and digital platforms in view of the prevailing sensitive national situation. The PTA\u2019s instruction came amid \u201cfalse\u201d reports circulated by Afghan Taliban officials and amplified by Indian media, claiming that Afghan forces had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}