Pakistan blocks Wikipedia over ‘sacrilegious’ content

Islamabad: Pakistan has blocked Wikipedia services in the South Asian nation after it failed to remove “sacrilegious” content. The restoration of the services will be subjected to consideration if the website removes the content, according to report, . The move came days after the Pakistan Telecom Authority degraded Wikipedia services for 48 hours, threatening to block it if the content deemed ‘blasphemous’ was not deleted. “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”, the Pakistan Telecom Authority tweeted. “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”, it added.In 2012, the Pakistan government had blocked more than 700 YouTube links to an anti-Islam film which triggered massive protests across several countries. The top court had directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block the links to the movie, Chinese media agency Xinhua had reported. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.