
Pakistan man faces cyber terror charge over disinformation linked to UK riots
The Peninsula
Lahore, Pakistan: A Pakistani man appeared in court Wednesday to face charges of cyber terrorism after allegedly spreading disinformation on his click...
Lahore, Pakistan: A Pakistani man appeared in court Wednesday to face charges of cyber terrorism after allegedly spreading disinformation on his clickbait website thought to have fuelled anti-immigration riots in Britain.
Farhan Asif was accused of publishing an article on his Channel3Now website falsely claiming that a Muslim asylum seeker was suspected in a deadly knife attack on children in the United Kingdom.
UK authorities have blamed online misinformation for sparking days of riots which targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers as well as police officers and other properties.
"He is a 31-year-old software engineer with no journalism credentials, apart from running the Channel3Now website, which served as a source of income for him," a senior official at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Initial investigations indicate that his sole intent was to make money through clickbait content."













