To say Farhan Khan Virk is a prolific Twitter user does not do justice. Even if you don’t follow him on Twitter, you’ve probably seen his work. Despite only joining Twitter less than three years ago, Farhan has managed to post over 187,000 Tweets. That’s over 170 per day on average! His subjects fall very much on the hyper-nationalist side of things, and a recent Tweet by Ali Salman Alvi revealed that as usual with this crowd there may be much more to the eye that what is admitted.
Clearly, the day belongs to the man who made #Pakistan‘s atom bomb @FarhanKVirk pic.twitter.com/AYp6lFQ3ss
— Ali Salman Alvi (@alisalmanalvi) May 28, 2015
Apparently, before Farhan was Tweeting as himself, he was Tweeting as Dr AQ Khan. He is allegedly behind other fake Twitter accounts also, but what really caught my attention was this amazing screenshot:
@FarhanKVirk You tend to make such mistakes when you are running ‘n’ number of accounts. @SheikhImaan @DrAQ_Khan pic.twitter.com/pF4gTDHROh — Ali Salman Alvi (@alisalmanalvi) May 28, 2015
Rather than feel any shame, however Farhan responsed to being outed as part of a Twitter propaganda ring with sheer arrogance.
@alisalmanalvi @SheikhImaan @DrAQ_Khan It’s my choice if i run a million accounts? Why are you crying?
— Farhan Khan Virk (@FarhanKVirk) May 28, 2015
I wrote a piece last year about the propaganda rings that seem to be rapidly spreading. I am not going to point fingers at Farhan as an ISI media operative because obviously I don’t have any evidence that he is. As far as I know, he’s just another cog in the hyper-nationalist media machine who has the time to not only post hundreds of Tweets every day but apparently to run multiple fake accounts and to coordinate with a team of other Twitter users to promote a hyper-nationalist message.
Great to see the hard work of a sincere activist for Pakistan being recognised #ThankYouFarhanVirk @FarhanKVirk. Stay Blessed Bruv. — MuhammadAnjumKiani (@AnjumKiani) October 11, 2014
Trending now in #Pakistan: #WeWantKashmirFreeFromIndia & #IndiaIsATerroistNation. Courtesy @FarhanKVirk pic.twitter.com/zKXY1y9y5m
— Ahmed Quraishi (@AQpk) December 30, 2014
I don’t know if Farhan is paid to do this. Maybe he is just a wealthy young activist who chooses to spread hyper-nationalist propaganda instead of otherwise spending his time on school or a career. Axact may have been a diploma factory, but there also appears to be a propaganda factory also. Like Axact, it may be a matter of sheer arrogance that undoes it.
