I am not really a regular on Facebook and while I have had an account on the social media platform for many years, I didn’t use it regularly. For starters, compared to Twitter/X – where I am active – I felt Facebook is always more of a platform for sharing pictures of holidays and other life experiences with family members and friends, not least because, unlike Twitter/X, on Facebook most of your connections are people whom you know.
However, in recent weeks, I have increased my activity on Facebook, particularly on various groups, something that Twitter/X lacks. On many of these groups, one can be an interested bystander and watch and read all the posts and the comments and debates they generate. Many of these groups have tens of thousands of members, and admins and/or moderators run them and have specific rules for postings and interaction.
One such group – and quite popular with over 71,000 members at last count – is called Karachi Food Diary. Its admins include a well-known economist, columnist and commentator on economic and business issues but the day-to-day moderation is carried out by a couple of people.
I sometimes post on this group as well as some other Karachi-related groups. A few days ago I made a one-liner post on the group: it was titled “Breakfast essentials” and had a photograph (cropped and edited) of my breakfast table with a Nurpur milk box and Nurpur butter on it. I have been using both items for breakfast for some years now, and switched in fact from Lurpak butter to Nurpur completely since the former is imported and very expensive and the latter is just as good.
All posts on Karachi Food Diary have to be approved by the admins and this one was up in a couple of hours. And within a few hours, it got several dozen comments – most of them hostile and some bordering on the offensive. Many took issue with it since Nurpur is a brand owned and produced by Fauji Foods, which is part of the Fauji Foundation.
Many assumed that the post was paid – it wasn’t of course – I don’t need anyone to pay me to post about a food item that I like on a Facebook group devoted to food. Some of the other responses insinuated that the post was done deliberately to “provoke” – and the argument was that the hostile reaction to it was therefore completely in line and to be expected. Many responses were nothing more than personal attacks and one of them was by a woman who resorted to namecalling and abuse.
Those who support Imran Khan and his party and who claim to stand up for democracy and freedom of expression and media only do so as long as you praise and support their leader and his party – and if you oppose him or his political views and worldview, then a ban is fine
Since the group is pretty particular about members following its laid down rules for a code of conduct (which includes prohibiting the use of uncivil and/or abusive language), one would have expected it to act against at least those comments that crossed the abusive line. However, no such action was taken so I made a separate post on the group addressed specifically to the admins and moderators asking them whether their rules and code of conduct allowed for one member to abuse another just because he or she disliked or disagreed with the content of the post.
While this second post also elicited many responses – again most of them pretty similar to those made on the original one titled ‘Breakfast essentials’ – no response was forthcoming from any admin or moderator (the group has five listed). In fact, a couple of comments said that I should now be banned.
Soon enough, the post was deleted – and this was laughable not least because some members of the group assumed I had deleted it under pressure. They were told that the admins had deleted it and that this action was arbitrary and made little sense since it was related to food and in particular breakfast. Yes, even if the post was deemed as a political statement in favour of those opposing Imran Khan and his party, there could be criticism of its stance in the comments but the wholesale deletion was basically nothing more than censorship. In a few hours, I found myself removed from the group Karachi Food Diary as well.
Clearly, those who support Imran Khan and his party and who claim to stand up for democracy and freedom of expression and media only do so as long as you praise and support their leader and his party – and if you oppose him or his political views and worldview, then a ban is fine. That’s precisely how the party acted when it was in power and the current talk of its supporters to stand up for democracy and freedom of expression and media is only there as long as it helps Imran Khan and gets him released from jail – and this freedom of expression doesn’t apply to those who disagree and dissent.
That is quite literally the definition of rank hypocrisy.