ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has asked YouTube to “immediately” block content deemed “vulgar” and “indecent” by Pakistani authorities, although it did not state what actions it would take if the video-sharing platform did not comply.
Youtube remained banned in Pakistan for three years until January 2016 when the block was lifted after the Google-owned website launched a local version that allows the government to demand removal of material it considers offensive.
Pakistan banned access to YouTube in September 2012 after an anti-Islam film was uploaded to the site, sparking violent protests across major cities in the Muslim-majority country of 220 million people.
“PTA has asked video-sharing platform YouTube to immediately block vulgar, indecent, immoral, nude and hate speech content for viewing in Pakistan,” the regulator said in a Twitter post. “PTA has approached YouTube to immediately ensure blocking of objectionable content and to prevent the usage of its platform for disseminating such content.”
In addition, the regulator said it had directed the platform “to put in place an effective content monitoring and moderation mechanism so that the unlawful material is detected/deleted and not accessible within Pakistan.”
PTA did not provide details on what actions it would take if YouTube did not follow its directives.
On July 21, PTA said it had banned the Singaporean live-streaming app Bigo over “immoral, obscene and vulgar content” and issued a last warning to Chinese video sharing platform Tiktok for “similar” reasons.
The hugely popular online game PUBG also remained banned in Pakistan through July. The ban was lifted on August 1, the PTA said, after ‘positive’ meetings with PUBG representatives. The ban on Bigo was also lifted after the company assured Pakistani authorities it was “committed to moderate immoral and indecent content in accordance with Pakistani laws.”
