Pakistan adds YouTube to blocked websites


20 May 2010

Following yesterday’s news that Pakistan has blocked access to Facebook in response to a competition on the site that encouraged users to draw pictures of the prophet Mohammad, the government has now blocked access to YouTube and certain sections of Wikipedia.

The BBC reports that no official reason has been given for this but that a Pakistani internet service provider (ISP) has cited “blasphemous” material as the motivation.

It is known, however, that the blocking of YouTube comes after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ordered all ISPs to prevent access to Facebook, and that it may be motivated by the transferring of these Mohammad drawings from the social-networking site to YouTube.

By Marie Boran