Emblem of Wikipedia is seen in Ankara, Turkey on November 30, 2019. (Photograph by Ali Balikci/Anadolu … [+]
The federal government of Pakistan has blocked entry to Wikipedia from throughout the nation over so-called “sacrilegious content material,” in keeping with the Wikimedia Basis, the nonprofit that oversees the web site and its community-edited content material. Pakistan requested Wikipedia to both block or take away “sacrilegious” and “blasphemous” content material from the net encyclopedia, although it’s not but clear what content material the federal government discovered objectionable.
“As of Friday, February 3, our inner site visitors studies point out that Wikipedia and Wikimedia initiatives are now not accessible to customers in Pakistan,” the Wikimedia Basis stated in an announcement revealed on-line late Friday.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) introduced on its web site on Wednesday that it had “downgraded” Wikipedia, which means the net encyclopedia was working extremely sluggish for anybody attempting to entry it in Pakistan. The PTA stated the downgrading would stay in place for two days, after which period the location could be banned fully if the “blasphemous content material” wasn’t eliminated. And on Friday it seems the federal government company adopted by way of on that menace.
A spokesperson for the PTA, Malahat Obaid, informed the BBC on Saturday that Wikipedia didn’t reply to “repeated correspondence” in regards to the challenge. However, once more, it’s nonetheless not clear what content material the federal government particularly finds objectionable.
“The restoration of the providers of Wikipedia will probably be reconsidered topic to blocking / elimination of the reported illegal contents. PTA is dedicated to making sure a protected on-line expertise for all Pakistani residents in keeping with native legal guidelines,” the PTA stated in an announcement.
As German information website DW factors out, Pakistan has a protracted historical past of banning social media web sites. YouTube was blocked within the nation from 2012 till 2016 as a result of the video sharing website carried a movie in regards to the Prophet Mohammed which angered and offended many Muslims. Relationship apps like Grindr and Tinder have additionally been banned within the nation.
“In Pakistan, English Wikipedia receives greater than 50 million pageviews per thirty days, adopted by Urdu and Russian Wikipedias,” Wikimedia stated in an announcement.
“There’s additionally a large and engaged group of editors in Pakistan that contribute historic and academic content material. A block of Wikipedia in Pakistan denies the fifth most populous nation on the planet entry to the biggest free data repository. If it continues, it would additionally deprive everybody entry to Pakistan’s data, historical past, and tradition,” the assertion from Wikimedia continued.
