YouTube In Pakistan To Stay Blocked 'Indefinitely'
February 08, 2015
Officials in Pakistan say the country's ban on YouTube is set to remain in place "indefinitely."
The French news agency AFP cites an unnamed government official as confirming the news on February 7, one day after Pakistan's minister for information technology and telecommunication, Anusha Rehman, said the ban would remain in place.
Pakistan blocked the video-sharing site in September 2012 after it hosted "Innocence of Muslims," a film that sparked protests worldwide for appearing to mock Islam.
Since then, Pakistani officials say they have found no way to filter out blasphemous content other than by blocking YouTube entirely.
Free-speech advocates say Islamabad uses religion as a pretext for what they say is mounting censorship.
In 2010, Pakistan shut down Facebook for nearly two weeks for hosting allegedly blasphemous pages.
It continues to block thousands of online links.
Based on reporting by AFP and dawn.com
Copyright (c) 2010-2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.