When you think of the cat filter, you probably picture a teenage girl, messing around with her friends and uploading selfies to Instagram. One person who wouldn't come to mind, though, is a government official. Perhaps this is what made the situation in Pakistan so amusing on Friday.
People online were left in stitches when a politician doing a press conference in northwestern Pakistan was streamed live on Facebook with the cat filter turned on.
Regional minister, Shaukat Yousafzai, and two accompanying officials were speaking with journalists when a member of the social media team accidentally activated the cat filter.
Feline whiskers and ears appeared over their faces, with people on social media finding the whole incident hilarious.
Taking to social media to comment on the unlikely situation, journalist Mansoor Ali Khan joked: "According to KP government’s social media team we now have a cat in the cabinet #Filter".
"Who let the cats out!!!" added Twitter user @sibkaifee, while @MustafaBaloch turned to the social network to make a jibe, writing: "WTH! KPK Minister turns into a kitty, apparently they uploaded live facebook [sic] video stream with cat filter on. Imagine their level of efficiency. Hillarious [sic]".
The video was deleted minutes after the press conference from the official Facebook page of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which is in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. However, images from the press conference are still available on social media.
Speaking to AFP afterwards, Yousafzai said the incident had happened by accident.
"The cat filter was turned on by mistake," he said. "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."
A press statement issued by the PTI social media team added that the cat filter had been turned on due of "human error," stating: "All necessary actions have been taken to avoid such incidents in future."
