Wikipedia services degraded in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has degraded Wikipedia services in the country on account of not blocking/removing sacrilegious contents.

Wikipedia had been approached for blocking/removing the said contents by issuing a notice under applicable law and court orders. An opportunity of hearing had also been provided. However, the platform neither removed the blasphemous content nor appeared before the authority.

Given the intentional failure on the part of the platform to comply with PTA directions, the services of Wikipedia have been degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported contents. In case of non-compliance, the platform will be blocked in Pakistan. The restoration of its services will be reconsidered subject to blocking/removing the reported unlawful contents.