When Canadian columnist Anthony Furey received an e-mail said to be from Twitter’s legal team telling him he may have broken a slew of Pakistani laws, his first instinct was to dismiss it as spam.
But after Googling the relevant sections of Pakistan’s penal code, the Toronto Sun oped editor was startled to learn he stood accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad – a crime punishable by death in the Islamic republic – and Twitter later confirmed the correspondence was genuine.
His perceived offence was to post cartoons of the prophet several years ago.
Furey and two prominent critics of extremism in Islam say they are shocked to have received notices by the social media giant this past week over alleged violations of Islamabad’s laws, despite having no apparent connection to the South Asian country.
They say the notices amount to an effort to stifle their voices – a charge Twitter denies, arguing the notices came about due to valid requests from an authorised entity, understood to mean Pakistan. This helped users to take steps to protect their interests, and the process was not unique to any one country, it said.
Furey, who detailed his experience for his newspaper, said: “I’m somewhat alarmed that Twitter would even allow a country to make a complaint like this, as it almost validates their absurd blasphemy laws.”
Another Saudi-Canadian activist, Ensaf Haidar, said: “I’m very shocked by Twitter. They want to silence any voice telling the truth.”