Pakistan may block Wikipedia if blasphemous content is not removed

According to a statement, the country’s telecom regulator said that they have ‘downgraded’ the platform’s services for non-compliance of an earlier directive to remove ‘illegal’ content.

The PTA, however, did not elaborate on the steps taken. Adding more, the PTA made it clear that if Wikipedia fails to remove the disputed content, it will be ‘blocked within Pakistan’.

“The slowness is there and will definitely affect people who use Wikipedia for education and information purposes,” Wahaj-us-Siraj, chief executive officer of Internet provider Nayatel, said in a text message.

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Earlier on February 1, the PTA had issued an official statement regarding the notice under applicable law and a court order to the services with an opportunity of being heard.

“The PTA has outraged Wikipedia services in the country by blocking/removing the offending material. Wikipedia was approached to block/remove the said material by issuing a notice under applicable law and court order. An opportunity to be heard Provided, however, that the platform neither complies with the removal of the blasphemous content nor appears before the Authority,” an official statement from the Pakistan Telecom Authority said in an official release.

“In view of the willful failure on the part of the platform to comply with the instructions of the PTA, Wikipedia’s services have been suspended for 48 hours,” the official release said.

According to the details, blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan and its laws punish those guilty of insulting Islam by the death penalty.

In the past as well, Pakistan has taken action against various social media platforms for disseminating content considered blasphemous.

With agency inputs.