Wikipedia blocked in Pakistan on account of blasphemous content: Report

Pakistan has blocked Wikipedia after the website refused to remove offensive or blasphemous material, according to a media report on Saturday.

The blacklisting of Wikipedia comes days after the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) degraded Wikipedia services for 48 hours, threatening to block it if the content deemed blasphemous’ was not deleted, The News newspaper reported.

When a PTA spokesperson was contacted late on Friday night and inquired about the blocking of Wikipedia, the official confirmed that yes it had been blocked, it reported.

On the instruction of the high court, the PTA degraded disrupting and slowing access to the encyclopedia website for 48 hours because there was blasphemous content on it.