YouTube to Remain Blocked in Pakistan 'Indefinitely': Officials

Advertisement
By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 9 February 2015 10:58 IST
YouTube will remain blocked in Pakistan 'indefinitely', an official said Saturday, as experts have failed to find a way to filter content deemed offensive and blasphemous in the Muslim majority country.

The video-sharing website has been blocked in Pakistan since September 2012 over its hosting of the "Innocence of Muslims" movie that sparked furious protests around the world.

The Supreme Court ruled at the time that the site should be banned until a way was found to block all so-called blasphemous content.

"(The) matter was reviewed several times but the situation effectively remains the same," the minister for information technology and telecommunication Anusha Rehman told the Senate Friday.

Advertisement

"The government does not want to take any chance and wants to make sure that after the unblocking YouTube, no offensive content remains viewable in Pakistan," a senior government official told AFP.

Advertisement

"So far no tool or solution has been found which can totally block offensive content, that is why YouTube remains blocked and it will remain so indefinitely," the official said.

Blasphemy is a contentious issue in Pakistan and the country has seen violent riots sparked by content deemed offensive to Islam, including the "survivors" edition of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that had a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on its front cover.

Advertisement

Free speech campaigners in Pakistan have long complained of creeping censorship in the name of protecting religion or preventing obscenity, and have described the ban on YouTube as a violation of civil rights.

In November 2011 the telecommunications authority tried to ban nearly 1,700 "obscene" words from text messages, which included innocuous terms such as "lotion", "athlete's foot" and "idiot".

Advertisement

In 2010 Pakistan shut down Facebook for nearly two weeks over its hosting of allegedly blasphemous pages. It continues to restrict thousands of online links.

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Internet, YouTube
Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Best Diwali 2025 Wishes, Quotes, and Facebook Statuses to Share
  2. Madam Sengupta Is Now Streaming: Know Where to Watch This Bangla Crime Thriller
  1. Mysterious Asteroid Impact Found in Australia, But the Crater is Missing
  2. Thanal Comes to OTT: Everything You Need to Know About This Tamil Action Thriller
  3. Madam Sengupta Is Now Streaming: Know Where to Watch This Bangla Crime Thriller
  4. Ryugu Samples Reveal Ancient Water Flow on Asteroid for a Billion Years
  5. Scientists Create Most Detailed Radio Map of Early Universe Using MWA
  6. Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 OTT Release: Know When, Where to Watch Jeremy Renner's Crime Drama
  7. Our Fault Is Streaming Now: Know All About This Gabriel Guevara and Nicole Wallace Starrer
  8. The Conjuring: Last Rites Is Now Streaming Online: Know Where to Watch the Latest Installment from the Horror Franchise
  9. Delhi Crime Season 3 OTT Release: Know When to Watch This Shefali Shah Thriller Series
  10. Vast Space to Launch Haven-1, the World’s First Private Space Station in 2026
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.