Edited By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: February 03, 2023, 16:53 IST
Pakistan’s telecom body did not specify to Wikipedia exactly what it wants removed but has asked the platform to remove sacrilegious articles from the site (Image: Reuters/Representative)
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said Wikipedia must remove sacrilegious content or face ban in Pakistan, without specifying which content it wanted removed
Wikipedia will not be accessible to Pakistanis if the platform fails to remove content deemed to be blasphemous and sacrilegious within 48 hours, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said earlier this Wednesday.
PTA accused Wikipedia of non-compliance and said it degraded services of the free encyclopedia because it failed to comply with directions issued previously by the organisation. PTA had directed the site to remove “unlawful” content.
There was no elaboration from the PTA and it also did not specify which content did it want removed. Pakistanis speaking to local news media outlets said in some networks the site was not accessible.
“Wikipedia will be blocked within Pakistan,” PTA said in a statement. Speaking to news outlet BloombergWahaj-us-Siraj, Chief Executive Officer of internet provider Nayatel, said those using Wikipedia to access information and for educational purposes will see that the site has slowed down and will be among the first to be impacted.
Blasphemy is a hot button issue in Pakistan and people have received death sentences once they were convicted of insulting Islam.
A similar diktat was issued against Wikipedia in 2020. In recent times, TikTok and other social media websites have also faced similar orders from the PTA.
A digital rights expert told GeoTV that after running some tests they found that Wikipedia is accessible on some networks and remains inaccessible in some.
Digital rights activists also told GeoTV that the move was a joke. Experts who spoke to GeoTV said that the move to suspend platforms is counter-productive. They also pointed out that civil society is not taken into account when such decisions are made.
Asad Baig, who founded the Media Matters for Democracy, told GeoTV that the ban would have made sense if it incited hatred or violence but that was not the case.
“Since this is not the case and it’s just a few articles the move is excessively counter-productive. The issue of transparency and magnitude of the decision deserves scrutiny,” Baig was quoted as saying GeoTV.
He said there needs to be a transparent mechanism before making such a move and added that currently no such mechanism exists, making the move questionable.
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