Pakistan has blocked access to the information portal Wikipedia after the 48-hour deadline given by the country’s government to the platform to remove allegedly blasphemous content expired.
This was reported by the spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), Malahat Obaid, in statements to Bloomberg, where he detailed that the Pakistani Executive is in talks with Wikipedia officials and will consider unblocking the platform if the content is removed.
Earlier, the PTA issued a «demotion» order on Wednesday given the platform’s «wilful non-compliance with the instructions» given by the state regulator.
Last Wednesday’s was the second time since December 2020 that the PTA has taken action after reporting content posted by the platform. On that occasion, the Pakistani authority issued notices to both Wikipedia and Google for «disseminating sacrilegious content.»
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, whose laws approve capital punishment for anyone convicted of affronting Islam.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
