While the pictures sparked a feeling of uneasiness, it was the accompanying comments from the online Pakistani crowd that left me feeling quite disgusted.
I was on sharamkaro.com - a website that provides raunchy updates of mostly Pakistani celebrities. The page I was looking at presented about eight thumbnail images of a highly talented and prominent Pakistani female journalist 'M', who has become a celebrity for her work on local news networks.
Not in a million years would I have ended up on a website like sharamkaro, which can be best described as the toilet of the internet. Yet I did, and unexpectedly at that, and it is all thanks to their ad on Facebook. Unfortunately, the advertisement itself, which was presented on the Facebook sidebar, was disguised as a legitimate source of breaking news on a Pakistani journalist.
These images of M were clearly not created for public consumption.
Some were pictures of her goofing around with what appear to be her friends, and some were of her relaxing at home. They were extremely uncomfortable to look at because it was an obvious invasion of her privacy.
Taking cue from the name of the website, which translates to ‘have shame’, the sexually frustrated members of the nation left typically sleazy and judgmental comments, especially regarding pictures of M in a nightgown at home. Some claimed that M wasn't dressed in accordance with her religion. These commenters used filthy words in an attempt to 'disgrace' her - words that are frowned upon in the same faith.
Never mind the fact that those attacking M’s choice of private clothing probably have at least one female relative who surely dresses in a similarly comfortable fashion in the seclusion of a domestic environment. Predictably, those few women who were posting comments in defence of M were either earning ‘frandshap’ requests, or were themselves labelled as ‘praastitutes’.
Yes, somewhere the English teachers of these Pakistani keyboard warriors are probably crying softly in a dark corner for having failed the young men.
I would have forgotten about visiting sharamkaro had my wife not unexpectedly mentioned it the next evening. Like me, she had clicked on an advertisement for the website on Facebook, naturally assuming it was safe, considering Facebook’s reputation.
Pakistan is set to hit nearly 10 million Facebook users soon, and I am sure that millions have been duped into visiting sharamkaro. It is bewildering how a website with such a dodgy business model has escaped the screening process of a social media platform like Facebook.
It is also clear that these pictures of M were published without her consent, and are most probably stolen in some manner. This should not be surprising, considering the many alarming stories one hears of Pakistani girls being blackmailed, after their electronic devices, which often contain personal images, have either been snatched at gunpoint or accessed by those with bad intentions at repair centers.
While my only education on legal matters comes from having watched episodes of Law & Order, I would strongly advise any celebrity, whose pictures have been published on sharamkaro without their consent, to consider legal action against Facebook (expecting local authorities to take action against sharamkaro would probably amount to naught).
The fact is that sharamkaro is paying Mark Zuckerberg’s juggernaut to promote them, and at worst, Facebook is profiting from stolen property. I can respect Facebook’s policy to not aggressively police user created pages that may hold controversial personal views, but to benefit financially off a website that employs a dubious business model is certainly not right.
If Facebook’s excuse is that it simply doesn’t retain a South East Asian specialist able to assist in the local advertising screening process, then I am sorry, Facebook, but sharam karo.
(Note to the Pakistani government: This blog is not advocating a ban on Facebook in the least. Banning everything is not the answer. Sharam karo!)