Pakistan Unblocks Access To Video Streaming Website YouTube After More Than 3 Years
Pakistani will soon have access to popular video streaming YouTube after the Ministry of Information Technology ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to unblock the website, as reported by IB Times Monday.
Officials of PTA said they have worked together with Google in eliminating "blasphemous" content available on YouTube. Spokesman Khurram Mehran said a localized version of the video streaming site was introduced to them by Google to guarantee that the website will not contain controversial elements.
An official of Google's Communications announced last week that they will provide localized versions of YouTube to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
"We have clear community guidelines, and when videos violate those rules, we remove them," Zeffri Yusof told The Express Tribune. "In addition, where we have launched YouTube locally and we are notified that a video is illegal in that country, we may restrict access to it after a thorough review."
A spokesperson of Google added that they are bullish "that this will pave the way for the work of local creators, personalities, and musicians to shine on the world's largest and most vibrant video community."
Despite this, PTA will still monitor the localized version of YouTube in order to check whether it contains offensive videos.
"Google has provided an online web process through which requests for blocking access [to] the offending material can be made by PTA to Google directly and Google/YouTube will accordingly restrict access to the said offending material for users within Pakistan," the Ministry of Information Technology said.
BBC reported Monday that young Pakistanis were elated that the ban was lifted, while activists demand for the complete detail of the PTA's pact pact with Google.
Reports revealed that the popular video streaming site was banned in Pakistan in 2012 after a film, entitled "Innocence of Muslims," was uploaded on YouTube. The film reportedly sparked aggressive protests that killed dozens of people.
In addition to this, blasphemy is considered a serious offense in Pakistan. It imposes the death penalty on violators. However, such harsh sentence has not been carried out in the country.
