Tens of fake social media pages attributed to high profile figures

KABUL (Pajhwok): Fake social media accounts attributed to some former and incumbent government officials have been active in the social media and experts believe such fraud is being done to generate disputes in the society.

Afghan authorities, however, said they were making efforts to prevent such activities.

Pajhwok Afghan News during its research found some fake social media accounts attributed to some former and incumbent government officials and picked accounts that have pictures of those persons on their profile.

The below table is organized in a way that individuals with more fake social media accounts is place No.1 and less then that are No.2 and 3,4….

Apart from number of fake pages in the above table there were more accounts on these names but since there were different profile pictures so it was assumed that they may belong to other people on these names.

Pajhwok believed real social media accounts of these individuals are those that carry verification mark or a well-placed source acknowledges them.

Mohammad Ashraf Ghani

Forty-two fake facebook pages and four fake twitter accounts are created in the name of former President Ashraf Ghani.

Ghani’s approved facebookpage  https://bit.ly/3mhxkCR

Ghani’s approved twitter account is https://twitter.com/ashrafghani

Ahmad Massoud

Jihadi Commander Ahmad Shah Masoud’s son Ahmad Massoud carries 40 fake facebook pages and eight twitter accounts in his name.

Ahmad Massoud’s approved facebook page https://bit.ly/3FdVgQ7

Ahmad Massoud’s approved twitter account  https://twitter.com/AhmadMassoud01

Abdul Rashid Dostum

Head of the MelliJunbesh Party has 35 fake facebook pages and three twitter accounts in his name but his media office said Dostum has no real facebook or twitter accounts.

GulbuddinHekmatyar

Head of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan GulbuddinHekmatyar has 30 fake facebook pages and two twitter accounts in his name but his party media office said he has no official facebook or twitter page.

Atta Mohammad Noor

Twenty fake facebook and five twitter pages are created in the name of Atta Mohammad Noor.

Noor’s official facebook page

Former President Hamid Karzai has 19 fake facebook pages and one twitter account after his name

Karzai’s approved facebook page https://bit.ly/3ox5llg

Karzai’s official twitter account https://twitter.com/DrabdullahCE

ZabihullahMujahid

Assistant Information Minister ZabihullahMujhaid has 17 fake facebook pages and one twitter account in his name.

According to information minister Mujahid has no facebook page and his one approved twitter account

Mujahid’s approved twitter account  https://twitter.com/Zabehulah_M33

AmrullahSaleh

Former First Vice President AmrullahSaleh has 17 fake facebook pages and one twitter account in his name

Saleh’s approved facebook page https://bit.ly/3uCo9Rm

Saleh’s approved twitter account https://twitter.com/AmrullahSaleh2

Dr. Abullah Abdullah

Former HCNC Chairman Abdullah Abdullah has 13 fake facebook pages and one twitter account in his name

Abdullah’s approved facebook page https://bit.ly/3ox5llg

Abdullah’s approved twitter account https://twitter.com/DrabdullahCE

 

Mullah Abdul GhaniBaradar

There are 10 fake Facebook pages attributed to deputy prime minister of Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul GhaniBaradar, while the Ministry of Information and Culture says that Baradar has no Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Qari Mohammad Yusuf Ahmadi

Six fake Facebook pages and two Twitter accounts are attributed to Qari Mohammad Yusuf Ahmadi, head of the government’s media center, but the Ministry of Information and Culture says Ahmadi does not have a Facebook page.

The real twitter account of Ahmadi which MoIC confirmed is: https://bit.ly/3AxXE0s

AhmadullahWasiq

There are three fake Facebook and one Twitter accounts in the name of AhmadullahWasiq, a member of the Cultural Commission of MoIC.

Wasiq’s real Facebook page which he confirmed is: https://bit.ly/3AxXE0s

His real Twitter account is:https://twitter.com/WasiqAhmadullah

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai

Three Facebook pages and three Twitter accounts are attributed to Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan. But the Ministry of Information and Culture said that Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai has no Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Sarwar Danish

Two fake Facebook pages are attributed to Sarwar Danish, former second vice president of Afghanistan, but there is no fake Twitter page in his name.

Danish confirmed his Facebook page on the link: https://bit.ly/3l4GWRT

He confirmed thathttps://twitter.com/VPdanesh is his Twitter account.

Mulavi Mohammad Hassan Akhund

Two Facebook pages and a Twitter account are attributed to the prime minister, Mulavi Mohammad Hassan Akhund, but the Ministry of Information and Culture said that Maulvi Mohammad Hassan Akhund had no any Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Provocative statements posted on fake pages

Some of the fake pages created in the names of these officials have published only pictures, some have non-political posts, but some have posted provocative posts, some of them are as follows:

A fake Facebook page attributed to deputy information and culture minister, ZabihullahMujahid reads: “Punjab wait for some time. We have announced an amnesty for our brothers, we will clear things with you, if you are satisfied, please write something to this.”

A Facebook page attributed to former President Ashraf Ghani reads: “What boastful Atta (Atta Mohammad Noor) has said in Islamabad is that Durand Line should be recognized. If there was anyone in the delegation who did not care for the interests of Pakistan, he would have harshly responded to Noor the way that he would never have taken the name of Durand Line.”

A picture of Atta Mohammad Noor is also posted on a Facebook page attributed to Hezb-e-IslamiAfghanistan (HIA) leader, GulbuddinHekmatyar and it reads, “Friends, what do you think about (this person who earned from Haram).”

The reason fake pages are created

Political analyst ,MarufMuslimyar told Pajhwok that fake pages on social media were usually created in the name of influential people in a society.

He said that neighboring countries with ethnic and religious interests in Afghanistan were also trying to create fake pages on social media and incite ethnic and religious division among Afghans.

Some other countries that do not have religious and ethnic interests in Afghanistan are trying to promote political issues in fake pages and create distance between people and the government, he said.

Muslimyar said that some politicians, tribal elders and opponents of the government also wanted to create divisions in the country through fake social media pages.

There should be a definition of freedom of expression in society and people should not misuse social media platform for any illegal activities and then name it freedom of speech, he said.

He added that social media sites should be controlled by the government as long as freedom of expression is not violated. He said that fake social media pages which publish propagandas affect Afghanistan whose people suffered four decades of conflicts.

Government trying to stop fake pages

AhmadullahWasiq, a member of the Cultural Commission at the Ministry of Information and Culture, told Pajhwok that fake social media pages were created by those who wanted to oppose Taliban and keep people busy.

He said the government was trying to stop fake pages with the help of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MCIT).