PTA Blocks Wikipedia in Pakistan Over Failure to Remove Sacrilegious Content

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 04 Feb 2023

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked Wikipedia services in Pakistan after it failed to remove sacrilegious content.

Bloomberg has confirmed the development and quoting a PTA spokesperson said that the “action was taken because some of the content is still available on Wikipedia after the expiry of a 48-hour deadline.

Earlier on Wednesday, PTA degraded Wikipedia services in the country on account of not blocking/removing sacrilegious content.

Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said content by issuing a notice under applicable law and court order(s). An opportunity for a hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority, PTA had said in a press release.

The telecom regulator said that 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 content.

It further warned that in case of non-compliance by Wikipedia, the platform will be blocked within Pakistan.