Pakistan degrades Wikipedia services over ‘sacrilegious content’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday degraded Wikipedia services in the country for 48 hours for ‘not blocking/removing sacrilegious contents’, ARY News reported.

In a statement, the PTA said it had approached Wikipedia for blocking/removing the content in question by issuing a notice under “applicable law and court orders”.

Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said contents by issuing a notice under applicable law & court order(s). An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority. pic.twitter.com/6dWRcbxHGB

— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) February 1, 2023

“An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority,” the statement added.

“Given the intentional failure on part of the platform to comply with the directions of PTA, the services of Wikipedia have been degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported contents,” the telecom regulator added.

The authority warned that in case of non-compliance by Wikipedia, the platform will be blocked in Pakistan and its restoration would be “reconsidered subjecting to blocking/removal of the reported unlawful content”.