FaceBook Still Remains Banned in Pakistan, YouTube Back Up

Internet censorship still remains strong in Pakistan even after access to the popular video website YouTube is restored.  FaceBook along with 1,200 web pages still remain blocked after being deemed “blasphemous.”

A contest on FaceBook calling for people to draw the prophet Mohammed in an attempt to promote freedom of expression sparked a major backlash in the largely Muslim country.

On May 19, a Pakistani court ordered the block on FaceBook which is to last until May 31. This was implemented by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), which was responsible for banning of YouTube, and laid down restrictions on other websites, like Wikipedia.

But late Wednesday, the powers that be in Pakistan said that YouTube was back online for the country but not without restrictions which block “sacrilegious content.” About 550 of the blocked URLs are from YouTube alone.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that pages containing blasphemous material would remain blocked but FaceBook and YouTube would be back up within days.

FaceBook has expressed its disappointment at being blocked by the country. The contest and its subsequent pages disappeared from the social network service on Friday.

Source: YahooNews