Internet service providers in Pakistan have been ordered by the government to shut down all access to YouTube due to anti-Islamic movies posted on the video-sharing web site. Google, the owner of YouTube, blamed the outage on “erroneous internet protocols”, sourced in Pakistan
The two-hour blackout was almost certainly connected to Pakistan Telecom and internet service provider PCCW, according to reports from the BBC.
There was no mention as to what exactly the offensive material was that was on YouTube.
Wahal us Siraj, one of the founders of the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, told CNN Monday that the telecommunications authority sent him a link to a YouTube video that concerned Pakistani authorities. A click on that link Monday yielded a message saying the “video has been removed due to terms of use violation.”
The PTA has urged internet users to write to YouTube to get the films removed from the site.
Access to YouTube is still blocked in Pakistan while ISPs work with the Pakistani authority to narrow its order to block a single URL pointing to the video, Siraj said. He said he expects the PTA to make an order to that effect later on Monday.
Last spring the Thai government banned YouTube for four months because of clips regarded as offensive to the country’s revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Moroccans were unable to access YouTube last year after users posted footage critical of Morocco’s treatment of the people of Western Sahara.