PTI spent Rs125m monthly on 5,000 social media trolls to target rivals

Adviser to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) caretaker Information Minister Feroze Jamal Shah stated during an interview to 24NewsHD channel that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) monthly paid Rs25,000 each to as many as 5,000 social media trolls from the public exchequer for the trolling of its political opponents.

Feroze Jamal said that 5,000 social media trolls had been recruited during the tenure of the PTI, adding that Rs12.5 crore were paid to them on a monthly basis from the government’s treasury.

“There are 1,200 trolls in the Ministry of Information alone. Search for 3,800 trolls in various departments is underway. These PTI trolls get Rs25,000 per month at home. During the PTI regime, a media cell was also established at the federal level,” he maintained.

“These social media trolls are still active. There are three months left in the completion of their contract. They were recruited on a one-year contract. The pro-PTI bureaucracy obstructs investigation,” he added.