Gill is quite active on social media, especially when it comes to countering what he calls ‘fake news’ and ‘propaganda’ against the PTI government. It is for this reason that he has clashed with journalists many times in online spaces and is often accused of using foul language and directing abusive troll armies towards female journalists.
It was during another one of these social media wars that Gill allegedly invented a fake tweet in which he was being thanked for using ‘civil and kind’ words.
The fake tweet emerged after a debate between journalist-lawyer Reema Omer and Dr Yuen Yuen Ang, an expert on China’s political economy. While the two were debating on the Chinese model and the prospects for its implementation in Pakistan, Shahbaz Gill jumped into the fray in an attempt to discredit Reema.
He then posted screenshot of an alleged ‘fake’ tweet by Dr Yuen Yuen Ang in which she was thanking him for using civil and kind language.
https://twitter.com/SHABAZGIL/status/1435718677597409281?s=20
Social media users were quick to point out that Dr Ang never made that tweet. Others said she had posted the tweet, but then deleted it.
https://twitter.com/RotiKholDeyo/status/1436106267517497347?s=20