Pakistan Blocks Wikipedia Over ‘Sacrilegious Content’

The federal government of Pakistan has blocked entry to Wikipedia from throughout the nation over so-called “sacrilegious content,” in keeping with the Wikimedia Basis, the nonprofit that oversees the web site and its community-edited content material. Pakistan requested Wikipedia to both block or take away “sacrilegious” and “blasphemous” content material from the net encyclopedia, although it’s not but clear what content material the federal government discovered objectionable.

“As of Friday, February 3, our internal traffic reports indicate that Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects are no longer accessible to users in Pakistan,” the Wikimedia Basis stated in a press release printed on-line late Friday.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) introduced on its web site on Wednesday that it had “downgraded” Wikipedia, that means the net encyclopedia was operating extremely gradual for anybody attempting to entry it in Pakistan. The PTA stated the downgrading would stay in place for 2 days, after which era the location could be banned completely if the “blasphemous content” wasn’t eliminated. And on Friday it seems the federal government company adopted by way of on that menace.

A spokesperson for the PTA, Malahat Obaid, advised the BBC on Saturday that Wikipedia didn’t reply to “repeated correspondence” in regards to the problem. However, once more, it’s nonetheless not clear what content material the federal government particularly finds objectionable.

“The restoration of the services of Wikipedia will be reconsidered subject to blocking / removal of the reported unlawful contents. PTA is committed to ensuring a safe online experience for all Pakistani citizens according to local laws,” the PTA stated in a press release.

As German information web site DW factors out, Pakistan has a protracted historical past of banning social media web sites. YouTube was blocked within the nation from 2012 till 2016 as a result of the video sharing web site carried a movie in regards to the Prophet Mohammed which angered and offended many Muslims. Courting apps like Grindr and Tinder have additionally been banned within the nation.

“In Pakistan, English Wikipedia receives more than 50 million pageviews per month, followed by Urdu and Russian Wikipedias,” Wikimedia stated in a press release.

“There is also a sizable and engaged community of editors in Pakistan that contribute historical and educational content. A block of Wikipedia in Pakistan denies the fifth most populous nation in the world access to the largest free knowledge repository. If it continues, it will also deprive everyone access to Pakistan’s knowledge, history, and culture,” the assertion from Wikimedia continued.