Yesterday, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority raised hackles all over the world by blocking access to the popular social networking service Facebook for carrying a group sponsoring a contest to draw pictures of the prophet Muhammad. Now, the regulator has extended the crackdown to include Google’s video sharing service YouTube along with more than 450 other sites and Web pages deemed to be offering derogatory and sacrilegious content.
Islam considers any drawing or depiction of the prophet Muhammad to be blasphemous. A spokesperson for the PTA said the agency may extend the ban to other sites and pages carrying content it deemed impious. The agency has set up a phone number that Internet users can call to inform the PTA about other sites with objectionable material. The agency has also been working to shut down access to the banned sites via mobile phones and devices.
Yesterday protesters gathered in the Pakistani capital of Karachi to protest the agency’s banning of Facebook. Although reports found that many do not support the competition to draw Muhammad, many felt that banning the site entirely was an inappropriate response and an over-reaction. The PTA institute the ban on an order from the Lahore High Court.
More than 50 people were killed in protests in 2005 following a Danish newspaper’s publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad.
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