After Facebook, Pakistan blocks YouTube and 450 other web links

The Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) said in a statement that the government decided to put a total ban on YouTube and other 450 links, when their attempts to block only the “blasphemous content” failed.

"We are an Islamic republic, so we are monitoring the Muslim content. We had to shut it down," said Khurran Mehran, a government spokesman.

This is not the first time that YouTube has been blocked in the conservative country; previously it was blocked in Pakistan in the year 2007 over some videos that were labeled un-Islamic in nature.

Along with Facebook and YouTube, Wikipedia and Flickr are among the sites currently inaccessible in Pakistan.

Google’s reaction to the ban
Google’s spokesman Scott Rubin said in a statement, “We have received reports that the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has ordered Internet Service Providers in Pakistan to block access to YouTube. We are looking into the matter and are working to ensure that the service is restored as soon as possible."

This is not the first time that YouTube has been blocked in the conservative country; previously it was blocked in Pakistan in the year 2007 over some videos that were labeled un-Islamic in nature.

Interestingly, Google’s reaction was quite different from the reaction after finding out about the series of cyber-attacks on its servers few months back in China.

After engaging in complex negotiation tactics with Chinese government, Google first threatened to pull out of the country but in the end simply re-directed its web services to its Hong Kong servers.

Facebook considering censoring services in Pakistan
A day after its services being blocked in Pakistan, Facebook on Thursday announced that the company is considering making all the objectionable content inaccessible to its Pakistani users.

"We are analyzing the situation and the legal considerations, and will take appropriate action, which may include making this content inaccessible to users in Pakistan," announced Facebook in a statement.

Facebook has expressed its disappointment over getting blocked in Pakistan without any prior warning but said that they just want to do business and harbor no intentions to hurt anybody’s faith or religion etc.

Pakistan over-reacting on online content issue?
Many believe that Pakistan’s move to block websites just because some of the content is not to their liking is simply ridiculous.

Omar Kapadia, a researcher at an educational institute in Karachi and a regular on both Facebook and YouTube, believes, “The government’s reaction is just like a child sticking fingers in his ears without addressing the problem.”

However, he went on to add, “I don’t agree with the caricature competition, the best way would have been to set up one highlighting Prophet Muhammad’s achievements.”