Pakistan provincial gov’t live streams presser with ‘cat filter’ on

MANILA, Philippines — The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan suffered an online blooper after its social media team live streamed a press conference which had its provincial leaders unexpectedly donning cat ears and whiskers.

Several journalists shared screenshots of the Facebook live over Twitter which showed the provincial cabinet during the press briefing with the “cat filter” on.

You can't beat this! Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govt's live presser on Facebook with cat filters.. 😹 pic.twitter.com/xPRBC2CH6y

— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) June 14, 2019

Positive image of Pakistan is being promoted though a press conference streamed live on Facebook with cat filter on ministers of KP province.. pic.twitter.com/ihjxarISfe

— Waseem Abbasi (@Wabbasi007) June 14, 2019

According to KP government’s social media team we now have a cat in the cabinet #Filter pic.twitter.com/LNl7zwOfLU

— Mansoor Ali Khan (@_Mansoor_Ali) June 14, 2019

In a report by the Russian state TV channel RT, local government officials of Khyber Pakhtunkhwan (KP) tackled “important decisions of the provincial cabinet” during the said press conference last Friday.

The report noted that KP’s Information Minister Shoukat Yousaf Zai and other officials, who were seen in the live-stream, are members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

PTI’s social media team addressed the mistake and issued a statement on Saturday, saying that the incident was “a human error” committed by one of its volunteers.

“Whilst covering a press briefing help by KP’s Information Minister Shoukat Yousaf Zai, a ‘cat filter’ was witnessed by the viewers which was removed within a few minutes,” the statement read.

https://www.facebook.com/312787158741179/posts/2598363580183514?sfns=xmwa

“PTI Social Media Disciplinary committee probed the matter first hand and concluded the incident as ‘a human error’ by one of our hard working volunteer. All necessary actions have been taken to avoid such incident in future with a great emphasis on strict enforcement of SOP’s and protocol for live coverage by the ground teams,” it added. (Editor: Julie Espinosa)