An account, named @PTI_insider, on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted a series of tweets exposing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) social media propaganda empire, which it claims started operating during the tenure of former prime minister Imran Khan against his opponents and to spread an anti-state narrative.

The account posted that the PTI used Rs870 million from the taxpayer's money to form and operate a social media team.

SAMAA TV reported that a plan was hatched to highlight the identity of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on social media, spread propaganda and lies against ‘security institutions’.

The irony was that all the money was spent on this propaganda against the institutions through government resources - ultimately , the taxpayers' money.

It was reported that the then PTI government used state resources ‘indiscriminately’ in an effort to target its opponents.

“PTI's narrative was spread under the guise of the Annual Development Programme (ADP),” the account alleges.

Sharing a report, titled ‘PTI Social Media Activists Propaganda Campaign’, the @PTI_insider account said that in 2018, the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) initiated a proposal for recruitment of social media teams and hired 1,109 individuals in 2021 under an Annual Development Program (ADP), titled 'Establishment of Social Media Participatory Platforms'.

Advertisements were published in newspapers for internships and communication interns or social media influencers. The recruitments were justified as a promotion of ‘progress and initiatives’ of the KP government to spread awareness at grassroots and to promote ‘national unity’.

As per the project’s PC-I, the qualification criteria was 16 years of education and on these recruitments, Rs870 million was spent in two years - 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The investigative data analytics in the report showed the biggest hiring discrepancy wherein instead of shortlisting those social media activists, who already had Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts with significant followers, 89% of the social media accounts were found freshly created with fake followers.

A detailed analysis revealed a purportedly malicious agenda of the PTI wherein these social media teams were utilized for advancing the political objectives of the party and propaganda campaigns, including demonization, spreading disinformation, conspiracies, fake news, and provoking public sentiment and anti-state narratives.

Explosive revelations!#PTI's alleged use of government resources for social media propaganda exposed#SamaaTV #ImranKhan #Propaganda #SocialMedia pic.twitter.com/Zid7vH8go8
— SAMAA TV (@SAMAATV) October 25, 2023

These pre-existing accounts had substantial fellowship (42.37 million) facilitating their utilization for social media propaganda campaigns designed to project the PTI.

A random sample of 800 pre-existing accounts (Facebook and Twitter) was analysed, which revealed that 72.5% of accounts had no political inclination towards the PTI, and statistics concluded that it was a paid campaign.

How did teams work?

Fake accounts on social media platforms spread the political narrative of the PTI and as per the plan, followers of ‘propaganda accounts’ were boosted using taxpayers' money to spread the message to the widespread online community.

The salaries of the social media teams were paid from the public exchequer, as per the investigation.

تحریک انصاف نے کیسے پاکستان کے غریب عوام کے ٹیکس کے پیسے سے 87 کروڑ روپے کی سوشل میڈیا ٹیم کا آغاز کیا۔

سرکار کا پیسہ کھانے والے کی سب فہرستیں آپ کو اس تھریڈ میں مل جائینگی۔

شئیر کرتے جائیں تاکہ عوام کو پتہ چلے کہ انکے ٹیکس سے ہی انکو گالیاں دی جاتی تھیں 1/10 pic.twitter.com/llEOTRdWHx
— PTI Insider (@PTI_Insider) October 25, 2023

Propaganda campaigns, disinformation

“Social media accounts were used to incite the public in the wake of May 9 events,” SAMAA TV quoted the investigation report as saying. All these PTI propaganda social media accounts were used to instigate attacks on military installations.

Firdous Ashiq Awan drops a bombshell on PTI

Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) Central Information Secretary and spokesperson Dr. Firdous Ashiq said the baseless and fabricated narrative constructed by PTI was actually the ‘conspiracy’ to destroy the roots of Pakistan—the narrative was set up to pollute the minds of the youth.

Firdous said that the conspiracy was hatched to create chaos in society that culminated in the wake of the May 9 riots.

Firdous Ashiq Awan said, “800 “accounts” were opened where money was transferred.”

Firdous said that money was used to create rifts between the state and the people and to weaken national institutions.

She added the propaganda ties connected with Zaman Park and Bani Gala—residences of PTI chairman Imran Khan in Lahore and Islamabad.

“PTI Chairman has created a media cell in KPK and nurtured his top trend desire,” adding that, a malicious agenda was revealed in which the social media teams were used by PTI for illegal political purposes.

PML-N reacts to PTI propaganda cell

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leaders Ata Tarar and Hina Pervez Butt said during the PTI era, taxpayers' money was used for propaganda against the army and the opposition.

"The false popularity of Imran Khan was due to false propaganda and a case should be registered against Imran Khan in this scandal as well," Hina Pervez Butt said.