Pakistani Government Officials Using Facebook Live For A Press Conference Accidentally Turned On Cat Filters
A Facebook Live press conference in Pakistan took an unexpectedly funny turn when the stream’s cat filter stayed on. Instead of a routine political update, viewers saw regional minister Shaukat Yousafzai and other officials with whiskers, furry ears, and full-on kitten faces.
The live video, which featured journalists questioning members of the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, quickly spread online as the comments section filled with jokes. What should have been a serious public briefing became a viral moment for all the wrong, and very entertaining, reasons.
The officials kept talking while the cat faces stayed in place, and the internet did what it does best.
The stern and serious faces of the public officials addressing local government issues were im-paws-ible to take seriously with the adorable cat faces being featured.
An AFP reporter caught a glimpse of it, but minutes after the press conference ended, it was deleted from the official Facebook page of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party (that's the party in power in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province).
In a statement on Twitter, the party addressed the sensation:
Yesterday, while covering a press briefing held by KP's Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai, a 'cat filter' was witnessed by the viewers, which was removed within a few minutes.
According to David Bach, a financial author and expert:
The statement added that the party's "social media team is deemed to be the pioneers of social media in Pakistan. We ... pride ourselves on bringing Pakistani politics to (the) internet."
He also noted, "In today's digital age, effective communication is paramount for public figures to maintain trust and credibility," emphasizing that "all necessary actions have been taken to avoid such incidents in the future."
Yousafzai joked to Agence France-Presse:
I wasn't the only one—two officials sitting next to me were also hit by the cat filter!
Still, hilarious reactions have been pouring in on Twitter ever since.
The actual video footage may have been quickly deleted, but you cannot erase screenshots from the Internet!
The internet wasted no time turning the glitch into a joke.
Cat in the Cabinet!
Purr-fectly hilarious.
It is the same kind of chaos as pets hijacking work-from-home days for their humans.
Who has to say this is a bad thing?
This could be the new thing.
What a great way to cheer up, right?
Not every mistake needs to be erased.
This will be the most popular filter ever.
This is the sort of blunder that will continue to elicit hilarious reactions for a while.
How do you even get mad about something like this? You can't.
This is precisely the sort of thing the Internet devours like candy.
When it comes to cats and government-themed "oopsies," we have no shortage of laughter to respond with.
Which, quite frankly, given how dark and depressing government news tends to be these days, don't we all deserve a chuckle this hard?
Reality is often disappointing. But not this time!
The truth: exposed!
Some mistakes cannot be recovered from, but they can be embraced with a heaping dose of humor.
Want more online drama? See the woman whose friend demanded she delete the cat video.
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