Pakistan’s military leadership has secretly enlisted thousands of serving officers in an online campaign against judges, activists, and journalists it views as political enemies.
The program, known as the “Army Agahi Network,” or Army Awareness Network (AAN), directs groups of military field officers to create fake social media accounts to proliferate pro-military messages and level defamatory accusations and threats against critics of the army, members of Pakistan’s civil society and judiciary, and supporters of deposed former prime minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI).
A source involved in the program leaked information to Drop Site that shed light on the vast, covert network. Drop Site is not publishing the data in order to protect the source. An expert in social media analysis reviewed a collection of posts made by officers involved in the AAN to help evaluate their authenticity. ….more
