Wikipedia was shut down nationwide on Saturday by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for failing to remove or filter "sacrilegious information."
In order to restrict or delete the alleged content, the PTA downgraded Wikipedia on Wednesday for 48 hours.
Wikipedia is a nonprofit organization run by the Wikimedia Foundation, which released the following statement on Friday: "On February 1, we received a notification from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority stating 'the services of Wikipedia have been degraded for 48 hours' for failure to remove content deemed 'unlawful'. Our data as of February 3 indicate that this has grown into a full block.
The platform would be blocked in Pakistan, the world's fifth most populated country, preventing it from accessing the "biggest free information library," it stated.
Wikipedia will "deprive everyone access to Pakistan's history and culture," it was further stated.
It hoped that Pakistan's government would quickly reopen Wikipedia access "so that the people of Pakistan can continue to receive and share knowledge with the world" and join it in a commitment to knowledge as a human right.
“We believe that access to knowledge is a human right,” the statement added.
Earlier, the authority warned Wikipedia that not complying with its orders to remove the “sacrilegious content” would lead to the online encyclopedia being blocked within Pakistan.
"By issuing a notification under applicable law & court order, Wikipedia was contacted for blocking/removal of the aforementioned contents" (s). The platform was also given a chance to be heard, but failed to do so by removing the offensive material or show up in front of the authority, according to a previous statement from the PTA.
“The restoration of the services of Wikipedia will be reconsidered subject to blocking/removal of the reported unlawful contents. PTA is committed to ensuring a safe online experience for all Pakistani citizens according to local laws,” it added.
Wikipedia is a free, crowd sourced, and editable online encyclopedia.
It is commonly used as a starting point by millions across the world for basic information.
Users in Pakistan come across “this site cannot be reached” when trying to access the website.
Source: https://prokistan.com/
No comments yet