Pakistani Government Officials Accidentally Turn On Cat Filter During Facebook Live, Hilarity Ensues

The provincial government of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has found a way to increase the ratings of their press conferences. By accident. The stream of regional minister Shaukat Yousafzai speaking with journalists went viral on Friday after somebody who was in charge of the live stream on Facebook accidentally activated the cat filter. As a result, Yousafzai and a few other politicians grew pointy ears and whiskers.

The provincial government of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa live streamed an official meeting on Facebook but forgot to turn off the cat filter

Immediately, Facebook users started flooding the stream with comments. There’s “a cat in the cabinet” one said. Others were a bit more specific and poetic: “Shaukat Yousafzai looks like a cat – Meow meow meow.” The live stream, however, continued. Even an AFP reporter caught a glimpse of it, but minutes after the press conference ended it was deleted from the official Facebook page of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which is in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The screenshots, however, will remain on the Internet forever.

Yousafzai confirmed the incident to AFP and said it happened by accident: “The cat filter was turned on by mistake, let’s not take everything so seriously.”

“I wasn’t the only one – two officials sitting along me were also hit by the cat filter,” he said. A press statement, issued by the PTI party social media team described the incident as “human error.” “All necessary actions have been taken to avoid such incidents in future,” it read.